Byzantine Blog

Why is Solana-Tadic Pact Unavailable to the Public?

Tanjug reported that, according to the Brussels' Office for Enlargement of the EU Commission, the Temporary Agreement signed by Tadic's party members in Luxembourg will be published by the EU only "in the next few months", and that there is a possibility of "technical corrections" in the translation of the document in contrast to the version signed on April 28.

"Certain technical corrections in translation of the signed text may occur", the EU bureaucrats told Tanjug "without clarifying what this actually means", the Tanjug reporter said.

The responsibility for the translation of the Temporary Agreement into Serbian lies on the Serbian side, but this version is being double-checked by the legal and linguistic experts of the European Commission and returned for corrections. The final version of the document in English will be published by the EU "in the next few months", the EU officials said.

Temporary Agreement was the second document Tadic's DS members signed in addition to the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA). Temporary Agreement is shorter than the SAA and, according to the EU officials, "it serves to enable the implementation of the trade part of the Agreement prior to its ratification which, within the EU, could take up to two years".

The EU officials have also confirmed to Tanjug that, contrary to Tadic's claims, not a single line of the SAA and the Temporary Agreement signed by DS is active now, nor will it be implemented before the EU Council of Ministers reaches a decision that Serbia has fulfilled the condition of finalizing the cooperation with the Hague.

Government Does Not Adopt Documents of Unknown Contents

Reacting to Tadic's announcement that the ministers belonging to his coalition will request government adoption of the Solana-Tadic pact, alongside the adoption of the Russian energy deal, scheduled for Friday, May 9, Premier Kostunica said he will not take part in the deception, since the DSS-NS [Kostunica's coalition] ministers are entirely unaware of the full contents, including the possible amendments to the two documents Tadic's party signed with Solana in Luxembourg.

Prime Minister Kostunica said that the original contracts signed by Bozidar Djelic on April 28 in Luxembourg have not been submitted to the Government of Serbia and that the ministers cannot consider adopting the contracts they are not fully familiar with, and certainly not based on someone's word.

Kostunica said it is unclear why the signed contracts have not been made available to the ministers and the public and how was it possible for these contracts to be kept hidden from the government and public.

"A case like this is unprecedented in the course of Serbian Government activities, as well as in the work of any other European state. However, sooner or later the real reasons for hiding the originals of the signed contracts will become clear," Kostunica said.

Kostunica also said that the government had never adopted a document contents of which were unknown to a number of ministers.

“Not only does Solana Agreement represent a deceit and signing away on Kosovo independence, but Tadic-Djelic signature was also put on an accompanying document that we have yet to see,” the prime minister cautioned.

He said that none of the ministers from the Democratic Party of Serbia-New Serbia (DSS-NS) coalition had seen the Temporary Agreement which had accompanied the SAA Tadic and Djelic have signed.

“And now we hear that the [Tadic's] DS will try to present that agreement, which no one has yet seen, at the next cabinet meeting,” Kostunica said.

He said that Serbian citizens had to know that this was a case of “trying to pull off a grand hoax, and this is an agreement which goes directly against the state and Serbia’s national interests.”

“All this goes to show that, when one is dealing with deceit, one falls ever deeper into big mistakes,” surmised Kostunica.

Slippery Slope: Tadic's DS Plunging Headlong Into Disaster

DSS spokesman Andreja Mladenovic has also called on Tadic and Djelic to make the originals of the documents they signed public.

“The public has to know why they are hiding the Temporary Agreement and if there are any new amendments and annexes to the SAA,” Mladenovic said, adding that Tadic and Djelic were for some reason hiding both the Temporary Agreement and Solana’s SAA, which they signed in Luxembourg.

Mladenovic said that Tadic's party had claimed that it could not show that document to the public "because it was in a special electronic format."

“Then, how was that Temporary Agreement signed in the first place, if it is in a 'special electronic format', unknown to the public,” the DSS spokesman wondered.

“We call on Tadic and Djelic to say what are they trying to hide and where have they hidden the temporary agreement. Not only is it against the Constitution, but it’s downright bullying to request adoption of an illegal document that ministers and the public still haven’t seen,” Mladenovic said, adding that the DS “was plunging headlong into complete ruin and would bear full responsibility for this unconstitutional act.”

Cartoon by Milenko Kosanovic—edited

Posted by BBlog Staff at 02:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Thaci would Also Vote for Tadici

...If he didn't think he lives in a separate state, that is.

On the very same day the three members of a single political party in Serbia, Tadic's DS, signed the treacherous pact with Javier Solana in Luxembourg, Kosovo Albanian terrorist and war criminal Ramush Haradinaj congratulated Tadic on signing Kosovo-Metohija away.

U92 B92 reported on May 1 that "Ramush Haradinaj yesterday welcomed the signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement (SAA) between Serbia and the EU", urging ethnic Albanians from Presevo Valley (Serbian region near the administrative line with Kosovo-Metohija province) to take part in the Serbian elections and vote for Tadic.

Today, Tanjug reported that another ethnic Albanian war criminal—Hashim Thaci—stated that he also favors Tadic's anti-Serbian coalition in the parliamentary elections, which would secure the anti-Serbian majority in the Serbian National Assembly and enable the creation of an anti-Serbian government.

According to Tanjug, Thaci said that the "victory of the democratic forces in Serbia would have a positive influence on inter-state relations between Kosovo and Serbia", adding that those positive influences would "reinforce the values USA, EU and NATO contributed to the region".

Step No. 2: KosovA Signs the Agreement with EU

Tanjug has also reported a statement by the Vice President of the Serbian Radical Party Dragan Todorovic, that "at the meeting held yesterday between the representatives of the USA, EU and Albania, also attended by Hashim Thaci, it was decided to sign the agreement with Kosovo which would lead to the EU membership".

"This document is titled Confirmation of the Communication between EU and Kosovo Regarding the Kosovo Action Plan for Joining the EU", Todorovic said.

He explained it was decided that the model for Kosovo accession to the EU will be the same as the one used for Slovakia, Czech Republic and Hungary, "which means that there will be no signing of the Stabilization and Association Agreement. Instead, Kosovo will automatically become a EU member."

Todorovic said the above mentioned document will be signed on May 9 or 10, adding that "we can now be completely certain that the signing of the SAA on behalf of Boris Tadic was the first step towards Serbia recognizing the independence of the fake state of Kosovo".

It will Be Up to Serbian Voters...

Similar, much more detailed information, was carried by the Belgrade daily Kurir, which also quoted the high UN official stationed in Pristina, who said that "in case some future coalition in the Serbian Parliament annuls Djelic's signature, Pristina would have a problem. The direction of the European integrations of Belgrade and Pristina was planned as a parallel process. If Serbia rejects the SAA, Kosovo would not have the opportunity to sign it either".

Posted by BBlog Staff at 10:50 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Brussels Confirms Tadic's DS Signed Kosovo Away

Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht told Tanjug today that, for "the official Brussels", the Stabilization and Association Agreement signed last week in Luxembourg does, indeed, apply to mutilated Serbia—without Kosovo and Metohija—as Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica says.

"It is my understanding that we have signed the agreement with Serbia alone, without Kosovo", Tadic's friend De Gucht said.

Belgium recognized the unilateral secession of Serbian Kosovo-Metohija province on February 24. Together with Holland, it was also against signing the SAA with Serbia until the last meeting of EU Council of Ministers, on April 29, when the two states suddenly decided to let Solana sign the pact with Tadic's political party members, in the midst of parliamentary elections.

De Gucht pointed that the purpose of signing the pact was "to send a positive signal to Serbian citizens regarding the EU intentions".

He also proudly stressed that his country and the neighboring Holland have succeeded in imposing further conditions upon Serbia, by having the signed agreement immediately suspended, until Belgrade hands over every Serb NATO tribunal in the Hague requests.

"The SAA will become implementable only after the EU Council of Ministers reaches a new decision, which would conclude that the full cooperation of Belgrade with the Hague tribunal was achieved", De Gucht said.

Kosovo Serbs to File Grand Treason Charges Against Tadic, Jeremic and Djelic

Serbian National Council from Kosovo and Metohija province announced they will file charges against Boris Tadic on the grounds of grand treason committed by signing the pact with EU.

President of the Serbian National Council Milan Ivanovic told the press conference that both this Kosovo-Metohija organization and the Association of the Serbian Towns and Municipalities, will file charges against the other two DS party members who took part in the Luxembourg treachery, alongside Tadic.

"We shall file criminal charges on behalf of Kosovo-Metohija Serbs against Boris Tadic, Vuk Jeremic and Bozidar Djelic for accepting the seizure and destruction of our country. We consider their act anti-constitutional and criminal", Ivanovic said.

He added that the three DS party members will also be charged for creating a false impression that the state was standing behind them on April 29, during the signing of the EU pact. President of the Serbian National Council told media representatives that the pact Tadic's party members have signed is going to make the survival and the return of Serbs to the Kosovo province much harder.

He called his compatriots to vote for the national and patriotic parties on May 11, for "those who are fighting for the preservation of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia."

"If DS Comes to Power, We Shall Disappear"

Marko Jaksic, President of the Association of Serbian Towns and Municipalities in Kosovo and Metohija, called upon all the Serbian citizens not to give their votes to DS leader Boris Tadic, because he has committed a grand treason, betraying all of the generations who have been dying for the Kosovo covenant during the past six centuries.

"If they [Tadic's DS] come to power, we shall disappear. There will be a new exodus, because we shall lose hope", Jaksic said. He added that the behavior of the president of Serbia is much more harmful to the state and Kosovo-Metohija province than the behavior of LDP's degenerate Chedomir Jovanovic, who "at least openly says what he thinks about Kosovo fate".

Posted by BBlog Staff at 11:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

...And it Isn't Even Kostunica's Birthday

Ahead of Serbia's presidential elections this year, when the incumbent, Boris Tadic, received a birthday card from other heads of state, including the one from Russian President Putin's cabinet, Yellows used this rather basic, non-committal expression of political courtesy in a sleaziest possible way, as a promotional material in their campaign, loudly advertising the Happy Birthday greeting card as Putin's official endorsement of Boris Tadic in the elections.

One has to wonder how will the notorious SleazeBall Camp explain the obvious and lightning fast evaporation of Putin's alleged support for Tadic, after he sent a strong message of open support to Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, only few days ahead of the parliamentary elections. And it isn't even Kostunica's birthday...

Statement by the Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica

President Putin stressed in his message that Russian position "regarding Kosovo remains unchanged. We believe that the unilateral declaration of independence of the Province has dealt a serious blow to the principles of the international law. We are ready to join the forces in confronting this dangerous tendency. You can firmly count on our solidarity and support.

"We are oriented toward the close cooperation with Serbia regarding the wide range of international issues, in the interest of peace and stability in the Balkans, building the Europe without divisions.

"Russian leadership is strongly determined to improve our relations also in the other directions, including improvements of the contractual-legal base, development of the cooperation in the industrial and transportation sphere, widening of the cultural, scientific-educational and youth exchange.

"I sincerely appreciate congratulations on the occasion of my election for the president of the All-Russian political party United Russia. I rely on the deepening of the cooperation with the Democratic Party of Serbia, led by You, which has already established partnership ties with the United Russia.

"I am convinced that such inter-party cooperation will contribute to further development of the Russian-Serbian cooperation, which we succeeded to bring to a new, quality level during the past years. The active and open political dialogue is now being strengthened through the strategic agreements in the key areas of the trade and economic partnership. First and foremost regarding the energy issues, where the serious venues are being opened for expanding the mutually beneficial ties. In this context, the prompt ratification of the Agreement between the Government of the Russian Federation and the Government of Republic of Serbia about the cooperation in the oil and gas industry, signed in Moscow on January 25, 2008, is of particular importance for us. We hope this Agreement will be ratified in the Serbian Parliament in the nearest time," Russian President Vladimir Putin concluded his message to the Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 02:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tadic Ready to Make a Deal With the Devil to Stay in Power

In this case, Tadic seems to have made a deal with the devil's envoy, an ugly little demon, LSD LDP's Cheda the Junkie—a pathetic degenerate who represents the only political party in Serbia which openly advocates recognition of Kosovo independence and, in general, total annihilation and dissolution of Serbian state.

Cheda the Junkie, suspected of massive involvement with criminal gangs of all colors, a moral leper whose life philosophy is derived from the back allies of street swindlers and purse snatchers, is at the same time the most generously sponsored Serbian "politician" by the foreign powers, even though he hardly manages to scrape a single vote outside his private circle of degenerates and thugs at every elections.

But constantly flushed with massive foreign funds and stubborn support from abroad, Cheda the Junkie does what he's paid for, regardless of how few people give him their votes in Serbia, and that is to diligently work on destroying Serbia from within, by advancing and propagating the unthinkable ideas equal to the grand treason, for which, in any half-normal state, he would've been hanged in a public square long time ago.

While Tadic didn't think much about forming a pre-election coalition with Nenad Canak, a malignant heavyweight separatist, who has been openly advocating secession of Serbian northern region of Vojvodina for years, he shied away from openly accepting Cheda the Junkie in his pre-elections' coalition also, knowing fully well that would cost him too many votes, and would deal a final death-blow to his empty slogans about keeping Kosovo-Metohija within Serbia.

We now learn Tadic will for sure adopt Cheda's scum after the elections, because he figures he desperately needs every single seat in the Parliament and if Cheda's degenerates and street thugs pry a handful of seats, he won't hesitate to jump in the same sack with them.

DS Welcomes the Degenerate as a Valuable Political Partner

First, it was Tadic's party Deputy President Dusan Petrovic, who told U92... uh, B92 TV on April 25 that "the President of the Liberal-Democratic Party Cedomir Jovanovic is a welcome political partner", since he supports the "continuation of the European integrations".

"I am convinced that the List for European Serbia [Canak-Tadic-Dinkic coalition] will be the core around which a new government will be formed", Petrovic, the highest DS official after Tadic, said few weeks ago.

Cheda Announces Post-Electoral Coalition with Tadic: DS and LDP Work for the Same Goals

Yesterday, Cheda the Junkie said his party will enter the coalition with Tadic's DS "after the parliamentary elections on May 11 [...] and finish the job others avoided for years."

He said that his and Tadic's party will "reject Kostunica's principles", as if they haven't done so already.

"We wanted to make a deal with DS [prior to elections] because we know that is our obligation. We know that the DS voters wish for the same things as the LDP voters. We could not do this during the campaign, but we shall do it after May 11 and finish the job others were avoiding for years," traitor said in Kragujevac, during his campaign tour.

He said that one of Tadic's and his main tasks, once they form a new government, will be to arrest Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, and that he and Tadic "don't need the Hague tribunal prosecutor to tell them they must punish all of our criminals". He also said that Serbia "must change its policy towards Kosovo".

He added that "those who can't finish that job, need to move aside, and allow someone who can and wants" to take over the power. KLA's Cheda also told his listeners that "he believes in Europe as an expression of common wishes and common vision [whatever that means]. If we did not have a right to such life, then let our children live in Serbia from which we shall go to Kosovo the same way people today go from France to Germany." Yes, that is exactly what he said, without getting arrested.

Now, even though this coalition between Canak-Tadic-Dinkic and Cheda the Junkie will not be publicly announced until after the elections, Glas Javnosti has discovered that it is already operational: Cheda and Tadic rolled up their sleeves and worked jointly on collecting signatures to enable as many national minorities as possible to enter the parliamentary race, counting on gathering all of their parliament seats to line up behind Tadic and his third, hidden coalition partner Cheda, after the elections.

For Tadic and Cheda Even the Minorities are Not Enough

Article by Jelena Velinovic, Glas Javnosti

"[Tadic's] DS and [Cheda's] LDP would benefit from minorities getting as many MP mandates as possible, so they have agreed to help them collect the signatures," said political expert Goran Budzak.

"The DS leader [Boris Tadic] is most interested in the large number of minority parties, because he seriously counts on their support", said analyst Aleksandar Pavic.

Even though a condition of 10,000 signatures minimum was set for the minorities who wish to enter the race for Parliament seats on May 11, the entire 10 minority lists have managed to cross this ramp. The unusual interest for parliamentary elections was shown by Hungarians, Bosniaks, Gorani, Vlah minority, Montenegrins, Albanians, Bunjevo minority and no less than three Roma parties. The only logical response to a question where did so many minorities manage to gather so many signatures, the analysts say, is a generous support of certain political parties, for the sake of staying in power.

It is not a secret that a pro-EU block, led by Boris Tadic's DS, most seriously counts on the support of the minorities. But their plan might not work as well as expected because, even if the "List for European Serbia" [Canak-Tadic-Dinkic] which, according to the analysts, could get up to 80 MP seats, with [Cheda] Jovanovic's LDP getting up to 20 mandates, are backed by all of the minority lists, they would still lack some 10 mandates to form the government. This would bring Socialist Party [SPS] into the game, which the EUrocrats want to avoid. In any case, Glas interviewees stress "someone was very eager to get at least ten minority lists to enter the electoral race".

The MP Seat Worth 15,000 Votes

In order to enter the Parliament, national minority parties which do not have to cross the 5% census [as the other parties who enter the race in Serbia have to get at least 5 percent of the votes cast in order to get seats in Parliament], would need to win at least 0.4% of the votes, according to the calculations. Being that the MP mandate in the upcoming elections will be worth between 15,000-16,000 votes, the minority lists, scattered like this, could count on some 10 Parliament representatives and, therefore, on however slight possibility to become a tip on the electoral scales which could decide the future government.

The Longest List of Parties Since 1990

The elections scheduled for May 11 will feature the longest list of parties since the multi-party system was introduced in Serbia in 1990: 22 political parties, coalitions and citizen groups will be in the race. In the Parliamentary elections held previously, in 2007, 20 electoral lists were submitted, while 19 took part four years earlier.

CeSID's Djordje Vukovic said that the weight of each mandate will depend on the number of people who cast their votes.

"If the turnout is around 65%, the minority parties would need to win between 15,000-16,000 of votes in order to get their representative in the Parliament. It is expected that between 150,000-200,000 of the minority members will take part in the elections, so all of the minority lists together could count on some 10 mandates. It is incredible that as many as 10 minority lists will take part in the elections on May 11, since the condition was to gather 10,000 signatures each. So, it is easy to conclude that they did not achieve this without someone's help, and even by circumventing the law here and there," Vukovic said, adding that the dispersion will be most costly precisely for the minorities, which would have gotten more mandates on a common list.

DS and LDP were Collecting Signatures for Minorities

Political expert Goran Budzak said the fact that minorities managed to collect 10,000 signatures each is a coup on its own, since they claimed that even the 3,000 signatures that were needed before, were a problem.

"It is clear that DOS is being created anew [DOS, "Democratic Opposition of Serbia" was a foreign-funded coalition of 18 diverse political parties which was used by CIA for a state coup in Serbia on October 5, 2000]. DS and LDP are keen to have minorities get as many mandates as possible, so they agreed to help them collect the signatures. It was impossible for minorities to gather signatures of their ethnic group members scattered throughout Serbia in such a short timespan, so the members of DS and LDP rushed to help them. In this way, after the elections, DS-LDP coalition will have some, at least theoretical chance, to try to win over the SPS [Socialists]. They will offer them ministries, some boards, the things that could attract some Socialists," said Budzak.

Political analyst Aleksandar Pavic also finds it unrealistic for as many as ten national minority parties to cross over the legal ramp. Still, "this works most to the advantage of the List for European Serbia."

"Hungarians have already stated they are for the EU and are willing to cooperate with Tadic, and this is the way other minority parties are more and more starting to act. It is absolutely clear that such a high number of minority parties suits Tadic most, because he counts on their support with the utmost seriousness. It is also clear that the minority lists have not gathered 10,000 signatures each on their own," Pavic concluded.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 11:06 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

State Coup or Merciful Angel 2*

Statement issued on April 30 by the patriotic youth organization Serbian Portal

There are too many questions with no answers. Serbian Sabor Portal, as a national organization of free men who are humiliated by the constant insults to our intelligence and national dignity, will not cease posing these questions in our public life. We are entirely convinced that the infectious Yellow disease of jaundice which has spread through our media will not last much longer and that we shall soon step out of the Euro-Uniate quarantine.

Signature of the representatives of one political party on the most important state contract since the Second World War, placed in the name of the Serbian state outside of any legal frame and a political agreement, has all the characteristics of the state coup and belongs to the category of the most shameful signatures in the Serbian history. And the Brankovic's [legendary Serbian traitor, blamed for the loss of Battle of Kosovo and, ever since, a symbol of the worst imaginable treachery among the Serbs] and Judas' political psychology is certainly not the most important issue here. This signature and this political contract are disputable in the context of many other problems:

1. Problem of the Democratic and Legal Procedure

Has the case of a vice premier of a technical government (the government in resignation) signing the most important state contract at the time of elections been recorded anywhere in the recent history of the world? It is indicative that this signature, despite the announcements, was not placed by the president of the state, because that would have been an obvious state coup and a violation of the Serbia's Constitution. However, a signature of a French citizen [Bozidar Djelic has French citizenship] in the position of a vice premier of the Serbian Government is no less a state coup. On the contrary. Three representatives of a single political party in Serbia, circumventing the national referendum and the parliamentary approval, have taken upon themselves to decide about the destiny of the Serbian nation.

2. Problem of the Recognition of Kosovo Independence

Is this signature a part of the Action Plan of the Government of Republic of Serbia? Was it coordinated with the Kosovo and Metohija State Negotiating Team? We have already mentioned that the signature has not passed the parliamentary and referendum verification. What are the 70% of the polled saying about this contract, those who have, in all of the opinion polls, stated they are against Serbia joining the EU if the accession is conditioned by renouncing Kosovo and Metohija? Why are political moves like this being used to destroy the last remnants of the unified Kosovo and Metohija state policy and to destroy the last trace of a diplomatic struggle for the defense of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia? If it doesn't matter to our state what the European Union thinks and does regarding Kosovo independence, why would any other state in the world have anything against independence? What kind of a message have we sent by flippant joining the main political power which, by sending its mission, directly works on enabling the recognition of the independent Kosovo?

3. Problem of the Uselessness of the Agreement

Only in the self-censored Serbian media, trained in the New Kumrovec [Kumrovec, according to Yugoslav communist history, is dictator Tito's place of birth in Austro-Hungarian Croatia], in the classes of the Euro-Uniate propaganda, is it possible not to notice that the signed contract was immediately suspended, until all of the Hague conditions—which, by the way, will never cease to be issued—are fulfilled. So, what have we actually signed and gained as a state? Nothing. This signature practically only signifies the verification of our consent to deliver every Serb in the world Hague happens to ask for.

4. Problem of the Pre-Electoral Marketing

Finally, we reach the sole purpose of the signed contract, which is a pre-electoral trick. The signing was arranged at the highest level of political manipulation, purpose of which is a bare-naked political advertisement of the side favored in the Serbian elections. The biggest problem here is that the protégées aren't even given a minimum of an actual help, which would better camouflage the real intentions of the Brussels' Central Committee [a reference to the communist dictatorship, highest body of which was called Central Committee]. Because, those who, a day after their own presidential candidate won the elections, have taken one-seventh of a territory of the state over which he was elected to preside, after that might as well sign a political fiction with him too.

5. Problem of Joining the European Union

In the ocean of more than problematic issues regarding this Agreement, one question has been entirely overlooked: whether joining the EU, regardless of the Kosovo and Metohija issue, is indeed the right choice for the Serbian state. Has there been a public debate about this subject in our society? Have the citizens of Serbia been asked in a referendum whether they are for joining the European Union? Which economic benefits and what form of colonial status is the trade part of this agreement bringing to our country? Are there some other trade agreements, foreign investments and markets someone is blocking in Serbia, closing the doors to a genuine perspective of the Serbian state?

There are too many questions with no answers. Serbian Sabor Portal, as a national organization of free men who are humiliated by the constant insults to our intelligence and national dignity, will not cease posing these questions in our public life. We are entirely convinced that the infectious Yellow disease of jaundice spread through our media will not last much longer and that we shall soon step out of the Euro-Uniate quarantine.

In Belgrade, April 30, 2008

*Merciful Angel Mission was the way US State Department referred to the 78-day NATO aggression and bombardment of Serbia. The official codename of US-led NATO aggression was Operation Allied Force.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 10:47 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)

Turbulent Storm Serbia is In Requires Steady Navigation and Patience

Interview with Milos Petrovic, Doctoral Candidate of Political Philosophy at the Berkly University, Glas Javnosti

"Everyone who campaigns for Europe without Kosovo, or Kosovo without Europe is engaging in the plain demagogy. The dilemma 'Kosovo or Europe' is fake, Serbia has to demonstrate that it is precisely the European idea that is being defended in Kosovo. Only those who are not up to the challenge of leading the state are basing their reasoning on the principle "now or never", "all or nothing". Sacrificing one's own citizens merely buys time, turning us into all the while easier, perhaps even sweeter prey," Political Philosophy Doctoral Candidate at Berkly University Milos Petrovic told Belgrade daily Glas Javnosti.

Q: On May 11, Serbia will be faced with the choice to enter the EU without Kosovo or to struggle for Kosovo at the cost of postponing even the drawing nearer to the EU, for the foreseeable future. Is this the fatal choice and who needs it?

MP: There are very few fatal choices in life. Major mistakes are often result of failure to grasp the whole situation, to understand all the possible implications, and of reducing the reality to simplified schemes. October 5 [2000, CIA-funded coup in Serbia] is a good example of how such simplifications can not only lead to hasty actions but, as shown through the later developments, also to the type of actions which were unsuitable for the given historical moment.

The situation we are in today is still extremely complex. The elections will not and cannot resolve it, but they will play a significant role in it. Everyone who campaigns for Europe without Kosovo, or Kosovo without Europe is engaging in the plain demagogy which serves no one either here, or in the European Union.

"Europe" as a Cheap Empty Metaphor Used for Manipulation

Q: Serbia has not been this polarized since 2000. Is joining the EU the only way to a better life, and is the defense of Kosovo and Serbian borders possible only outside the EU?

MP: "Europe" is a word which has been filled with all sorts of contents in our political jargon during the past years. Like prosperity, youth, traveling, future... Although they are presented as the aspects of a certain way of life or as a world view, those contents are often quite random, general, unclear, at the level of the commercial spots. This is why they can be easily used for manipulative, anti-democratic purposes, where "Europe" becomes an empty metaphor for realization of one's basest economic and political interests.

Just like every metaphor, this one also contends for the place of the main truth, which can't and must not be subjected to the critical analysis. In this sense, the word "Europe" is one of the newest terms in Serbian language, one which has no connections to our European orientation, but is exclusively related to the internal politics.

I believe that it is this very imposition of "Europe", forced in such a way, that has contributed to the polarization of our society, where the defense of Kosovo is then equated with the patriarchal family, Orthodoxy, folk music... Such equation is not only overly narrow, but in my view it is also not in the interest of Kosovo defense. It is exactly through the defense of Kosovo where we need to demonstrate the utmost largess and, in that way, expose the fake dilemma "Kosovo or Europe", demonstrating that it is precisely the idea of Europe that is being defended in Kosovo.

Inept Politicians who Reason Like Petty Street Swindlers

Q: You have engaged in public polemics with the theories of [Tadic's] DS Political Adviser Dragoljub Micunovic, who claims we cannot jeopardize our "European perspective in the name of territories or fake heroism", that we can't gamble with our "transformation into an orderly legalistic state with stable institutions". Why do you think that defense of the state territory and the European perspective should not be juxtaposed like that?

MP: Just like one shouldn't rush when making important decisions in the everyday life, we have to be also cautious in politics when confronted with attempts to make us rush into some extreme, allegedly indispensable, solutions. Only those who are not up to the challenge base their reasoning on the principle "now or never", "all or nothing". Such reasoning is suitable for the petty street cons, but not for the state politics.

History teaches us nothing is forever, and that also goes for the interests of the European powers and United States, and their current attitude toward us. It is hypocritical to call that attitude a "perspective", when you are being expected to consent to the violence over your own country and its citizens. We are in an extremely difficult position, but that is exactly why we have to view it from the perspective of the next 25 or 50 years, with an aim to steer clear through the storm until the more opportune moment comes for us. Building a state based on the rule of law, with stable institutions is our obligation not because of "Europe", but because of ourselves.

Do we Place Any Value on the Struggle, Pain and Sacrifices of Our Ancestors who Gave their Lives for Freedom?

Q: You have also criticized Micunovic's stand that present-day generations have no right to risk the normal, safe and better life for themselves and their children, not even in the name of the ancestors or descendants. To what extent would giving up on Kosovo represent a betrayal of the ancestors and would it ease the fate of the descendants?

MP: It is only natural that all men are principally for the normal, safe and better life, but the question is what is behind such endorsement. If those words are not defined concretely, they become mere empty phrases and expendable goods, which can turn very costly for us. In which sense is that life [in the EU, advertised by Micunovic] normal, safe and better? For whom? At what price? At whose expense? All those questions have to be answered before we start juggling those terms in public. The question of the quality of human life is one of the most profound questions.

Secondly, life is a historical category. If our life can be normal, safe and better, whatever that means, it can be so within the realms of possibilities created by none other than our ancestors. Nice and good life doesn't come from nowhere, that is a fact. Do we have an obligation toward hundreds of thousands of our ancestors who gave their lives for freedom? Do we place any value on their struggle, their pain, their death? Some, perhaps, don't. But that crosses over into an issue of personal psychology.

Still, one thing is certain: giving up on Kosovo would not only fail to ease the fate of our compatriots there, such an act would also jeopardize their very physical existence. In that sense, every speech about "our" normal, safe and better life which does not include Kosovo children is pure hypocrisy and immorality. And those two can't be a foundation of anyone's bright future.

There's Always Time to Turn Around and Say: Enough!

Q: You are against the thesis that the entire history was built on injustice and that the powerful were always abusing the weaker. Hasn't the history of the post-October 5 Serbia confirmed that the big ones are indeed abusing the weaker? If the Serbs are guilty of everything, what is their guilt?

MP: It is simply not true that the entire history was built on injustice. Our victory in the First and the Second World War was the victory of justice over injustice. What would have remained of democracy, human rights, social structures, international relations, and even of our own ideals regarding the better life, if everything went according to the bully's plans? Even if the human history was always built on injustice, and it wasn't, this still wouldn't mean that the man could not turn around and say Enough!

What would be the point of our lives if we were to spend them with heads bowed down in obedience, without always trying to step over the boundaries of the existing freedom? It is more correct to say that the human history is at the same time the source of both injustice and justice, non-freedom and freedom, senselessness and sense. It is realistic to expect that is how it will remain in the foreseeable future. There are very few things in our lives which are either black or white, so we lead our lives precisely in those mid-tones, trying to find the optimal solutions in the given situations. The situation in which Serbian nation finds itself today confirms that the injustice, non-freedom and senselessness are quite forcefully marauding through history, but also that the man is not willing to accept that.

Belgrade's No. 2 Circle—The Unfathomable Heights of Selfishness, Arrogance and Crudeness

Q: You have assessed that the advantages of a better life are especially promoted in a Belgrade "No. 2 Circle" [a No. 2 Trolley route, circling around Belgrade's strict downtown], which plays a significant role in the life of Serbia during the last fifteen years. Wasn't Serbia too much under the control of the "No. 2 Circle" in Milosevic's time, under Zoran Djindjic and Vojislav Kostunica too?

MP: There are two issues here. First, during the past two decades in Serbia the divide between Belgrade and the so-called interior is becoming more and more obvious. It shows in the concentration of the political life, the height of investments, the extent of the international cooperation, and in the special status of the socio-political elite which seems to be saying: Serbia, that's me. That is the "No. 2 Circle" which has usurped the unnaturally large chunk of importance for itself.

But Serbia has been run by the "No. 2 Circle" during the past years in another sense too. This involves a certain attitude toward life and to others, an attitude dominated by debauchery and egocentricity, materialism, a degenerate amalgam of the primitivism and the alleged western values. This is especially visible among the young people, whose world view is extremely cynical, overindulgent, focused exclusively on the narrow personal interests. At one point, this was called suburbanism, but I think it has reached unfathomable heights in the "No. 2 Circle".

Divisions Promoted by the Self-Styled Elite Shameful and Humiliating for any Society

Q: You have written that part of the leadership and the "No. 2 Circle" exclude Kosovo-Metohija Serbs from "us", believing that they are holding "us" hostages. You have pointed that some speak about "us" as if "those down there" in Kosovo-Metohija can't hear them. What should "us" mean today, and especially what should it mean tomorrow, for Serbia to have a future? Isn't the Serbian "us" being destroyed purposely, both from within and from the outside?

MP: We must not give in to the same rhetoric Slovenians and Croats, and later [Montenegro's] Djukanovic, have been using against us, when they were justifying the secession by claiming that we are supposedly slowing down their economic development. Dividing citizens by the nationality, religious denomination, income or by the accent is humiliating for every society, and it is so for our society too. Everyone who thinks he can squeeze some benefits out of that is shortsighted.

If we do not raise voice in defense of every one of our citizens and every part of our country, thinking that by staying silent and through selfishness we are saving "ourselves and our children", a day will come when "us" too shall come under attack, and there will be no one to raise their voices in our defense.

Whoever believes that someone who is prepared to lie, steal, rape and kill others would not do the same to us at the right moment is rather naive. Sacrificing one's own citizens merely buys time, turning us into all the while easier, perhaps even sweeter prey.

Recommended: Western pressures on Serbia and the Alternatives, Interview with Srdja Trifkovic (Serbianna.com); Much Ado About Nothing: Serbia, EU Sign Pact – Sort Of, by Nebojsa Malic (AntiWar.com); Interview with Julia Gorin (DzejnDou.com); We should stop trying to intervene in Serbia's elections, by Peter Sain ley Berry (EUObserver.com)

Posted by BBlog Staff at 08:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

TRAITOR: Tadic, a Collaborator with the New Axis Powers

Minister of Education Zoran Loncar publicly called Boris Tadic to say who is his "special representative" who is denouncing the Serbian prime minister to foreigners.

In a statement delivered to Tanjug yesterday, Loncar said that “Dutch Foreign Minister Maxime Verhagen claims that Tadic sent a special representative to him, who informed him that Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was blocking the cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.”

“We call on Tadic to say in public who is that special representative of his that is denouncing the prime minister to foreigners, and to say what exactly that person told Verhagen,” said Loncar.

“We remind Boris Tadic that Verhagen recognized Kosovo independence and that it would have been normal for Tadic to send a protest note to Verhagen, instead of denouncing the prime minister,” Loncar said.

Verhagen said in Luxembourg late Tuesday that "Serbia admitted it was not fully cooperating with the Hague Tribunal", and that he possessed information that Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica was "blocking that cooperation".

Sucking Up to Dutch Nazi

On the same day, the EU decided that the pact Tadic signed with Solana will not be ratified or implemented before the Council of Ministers assessed that Belgrade had realized full cooperation with The Hague.

Verhagen told journalists that the extradition of General Ratko Mladic would be "the best proof of full cooperation."

"However, I do not need a report from [Hague's prosecutor] Serge Brammertz to determine that the Serbs are not cooperating completely," the Dutch foreign minister said.

"Last week, a special representative of President Tadic told me that Tadic wanted to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, but that Prime Minister Kostunica was blocking that cooperation," Verhagen told media.

He added that he had received a personal letter from Tadic himself, in which Serbia's quisling president said that he was "aware of the fact that so far, Serbia had not achieved full cooperation with that court."

Posted by BBlog Staff at 01:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Kostunica's Response to "Neutral" Solana

Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica today rejected Javier Solana's claim that the SAA pact signed yesterday by Tadic's Yellows is "neutral regarding Kosovo status", reminding the EU chief it is rather unsavory to enter into comparisons with Serbian premier over who loves Serbia more.

"Based on a statement by Javier Solana, one could conclude that it is he who advocates preservation of Kosovo province within Serbia, while I am against it. And Solana's main argument is that Stabilization and Association Agreement is neutral regarding Kosovo status", Kostunica said.

"If Solana's claim is correct, then what was he doing in Pristina in the role of the EU official, when he congratulated the men for whom Serbia issued warrant arrests on the independent state? Is a decision on behalf of the EU to send EULEX mission for implementation of the Ahtisaari plan violation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement, and has such decision left the agreement still neutral regarding the status? Was recognition of Kosovo independence by the 18 EU member-states a violation of the SAA, and has the SAA remained neutral regarding the status after this unlawful act? When they ratify the SAA in their parliaments, are these states which have recognized Kosovo independence going to annul their decision on Kosovo recognition, returning it to a neutral status, or are they going to ratify the pact which applies to Serbia cut in half, without Kosovo?", Kostunica asked, stressing that the "correct answer to these questions is well known, unless we are dealing with deceptions."

"In case Solana doesn't know the correct answer, every citizen of Serbia does. Just as every Serb knows Solana's decision to bomb Serbia was not neutral, but entirely mindless. Just as every Serb knows that the decision to build Bondsteel was not neutral regarding the status, but represents building of the capital of the first NATO state Solana started to create by Serbia bombardment", Kostunica said.

He added that there is also full awareness that "Ahtisaari plan EULEX mission is implementing is not neutral regarding the status either, but regulates that NATO is the final instance of power in Kosovo".

"Solana ought to be mindful of the fact that his endowments are various ruins throughout Serbia which are still visible so, if for no other reason, at least because of that it is rather unsavory for him to enter into comparison with me over who loves Serbia more", Serbian prime minister concluded.

Judas' Seal

Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti reported that supporters of Tadic's coalition celebrated in Belgrade and Nis yesterday, driving around the downtowns in few dozen cars, waving the flags of Tadic's DS party and Dinkic's G17 Plus, along with the EU and Serbian flags. According to Vecernje Novosti reporter, a number of them also decorated their cars with campaign posters advertising Canak-DS-G17 coalition. But the car-driving Tadic's devotees were a petty minority in a highly charged negative atmosphere, where reactions to Tadic's treacherous act were extremely sharp.

"We reject with utter contempt the Judas' seal Tadic has placed on Solana's paper, for which he will be held accountable. Serbia will not be governed by Solana, NATO and their boys Tadic, Canak and Dinkic," said Serbia's Minister of Education Zoran Loncar.

Kosovo-Metohija Minister Slobodan Samardzic was equally categorical regarding the Yellow's pre-electoral blow to the state.

"Tadic's signature is a great shame both for Serbia and for the European Union. This is a worthless agreement, which will not obligate either the EU or Serbia. Luxembourg has turned into a big political marketplace. The only purpose of that pact as an empty piece of paper is to back the so-called 'European forces' in Serbia. In this way, the EU is directly meddling in the Serbian internal affairs and its electoral process," Samardzic said.

Samardzic is convinced that "Tadic will practically accept Kosovo and Metohija as an independent state through this pact, just as the EU demands and in the same manner the EU acts in Kosovo-Metohija province".

"Even after the signing of the pact everything will be as before. The agreement will be worthless, it will be invalid, and Serbia will continue to struggle for its Kosovo and Metohija, just like it has been doing up till now," Samardzic concluded.

Parliament to Impeach Tadic

Deputy leader of the Radicals, the biggest political party in Serbia, Tomislav Nikolic said that the pact Tadic has signed with Solana is not an agreement with Serbia, but with Tadic's political party.

"This is not an offer to Serbia and Serbia's citizens. Not a single citizen of Serbia is going to benefit from this pact, there is not one new place of employment it opens, no better wages, nor is this the road to the EU. I am convinced that this pact will not be ratified in the Serbian Parliament, since it does not specify whether the EU is signing the agreement with Serbia which includes Kosovo province. This pact is a covert form of surrendering Kosovo and Metohija province as an independent state and handing it over into Albanian hands," Nikolic said.

Another high official of the Serbian Radical Party, Dragan Todorovic, was even more decisive in his comment.

"Boris Tadic will be held accountable for violating the Constitution and for the grand treason. When the new Parliament is constituted, after May 12, it will start a procedure to impeach Tadic. Signing the SAA equals signing the pact with the Axis powers during the Second World War. This is not the first pact of that kind. One just like it was signed on March 27, 1941, after which the nation had its say," Todorovic said.

Kosovo Serbs: We Say No

Serbian National Council based in Kosovska Mitrovica, the most populous Serbian enclave remaining in Kosovo-Metohija province, resolutely rejected Tadic's signature on the very same day. Thousands of Kosovo Serbs who have gathered at the rally yesterday, protested Tadic's signing the pact with Solana, sending a message that they renounce his signature.

"We say to Belgrade, we say to Tadic and Djelic that they have no right and no mandate to sign the SAA. We shall annul every one of their signatures. We say 'No'. We shall not accept this and we shall organize strikes and demonstrations," President of the Serbian National Council Milan Ivanovic said at the protest rally.

"No one has the authorization by this state and by this nation to sign any agreement with the EU, until the issue of whether the EU regards Serbia as an integral state is resolved. Serbia should join the EU, but not at the cost of accepting, directly or indirectly, the independence of Kosovo and Metohija. The pact that was signed can only be regarded as an agreement on behalf of an individual or a certain political group", President of the Serbian Socialist Party Ivica Dacic said.

"The EU offer is the best proof how much the European Union interferes in the elections in our country. Offering the signing of the SAA in the midst of elections is a flagrant violation of the rights of the Serbian citizens. The most bizarre part of that story is that the SAA will be frozen until the (EU) Ministerial Council decides whether Serbia is fully cooperating with the Hague tribunal", Minister of Trade Predrag Bubalo said.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 03:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

Tadic-Solana Pact to be Annulled by Serbia at the First Parliament Session

At the time the SAA [Stabilization and Association Agreement] was signed in Luxembourg, Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica said that Boris Tadic's signature on Solana's pact is obligatory for Tadic's own party alone and that the new Serbian government and the Parliament will annul today signed pact at its first session.

"Boris Tadic will not embarrass Serbia with his signature on Solana's pact, but only himself", Kostunica said.

Each of the three men, including Tadic, who took upon themselves to burden Serbian state with a commitment Parliament is certain to reject, belong to Boris Tadic's political party. Bozidar Djelic and Vuk Jeremic, assuming the roles of the vice premier and foreign minister, even though the government which appointed them no longer exists, accompanied their political party leader to Luxembourg in an effort to create an impression that the entire Serbian state is behind them.

Nothing could be further from the truth, being that the overwhelming majority of the Serbian Parliament MPs are expressly against signing of the pact with Javier Solana in present circumstances.

Premier Kostunica said that this signature is anti-constitutional and anti-state act, which means it is completely unlawful and illegitimate.

"We are informing NATO pact and all the EU member-states which have recognized the fake state of Kosovo that this illegal signature by Tadic cannot be interpreted as Serbia's signature on Kosovo independence," Kostunica told Tanjug.

"The new Serbian Government and the new Serbian Parliament will immediately annul Tadic's unlawful signature. We shall never allow anyone to sign the Kosovo independence in Serbia's name, and that is why today's signature by Tadic is absolutely worthless," Kostunica said.

Kosovo-Metohija Province Rallies Diverse Political Parties Together

In a later interview to Avala TV, Prime Minister Kostunica reiterated that the signed pact with the EU is obligatory only for the political parties which signed it, since it will not be ratified by the Serbian Parliament.

"This agreement is not in the function of preserving Serbia's territorial integrity and I am convinced that the Parliament majority will refuse to ratify it", said Kostunica, adding that today's signing of the SAA is a "one-time use" deal.

Asked whether this can be interpreted as an announcement of the post-electoral coalition of the Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) and New Serbia (NS) with the Serbian Radical Party (SRS), Kostunica said that more important than the partisanship is the prevailing orientation in Serbia where the differences between the political parties are being erased, and the issue of the territorial integrity is the key question over which the differences between the parties are erased.

"Regarding Kosovo and Metohija there was always a majority in the Serbian Parliament, and that is how it will be in future too," Kostunica said.

Solana's Pact—Destruction of Serbia Through Deception

He reminded that the SAA was signed, among others, with 18 EU member-states which have recognized the unilaterally declared independence by the Pristina separatists, and if they ratify the agreement, they will in this way also recognize Serbia without Kosovo-Metohija province.

It was Essential to Reject Signing of this Pact

Kostunica assessed that today's signing of the pact amounts to "destruction of Serbia through deception", because the moment certain EU states have recognized the independence of Kosovo-Metohija province, the article 135 of the SAA which was the only guarantee of Serbia's territorial integrity in that agreement, was violated.

"It was essential not to accept signing of the SAA without discussion with the EU officials. This ought to have been a minimum. Up until now, Serbia was negotiating numerous details with the EU, some of which seem rather insignificant. So, the minutiae was important, but when it comes to a major issue, we haven't spent a single day or one hour to determine what is Serbia to EU", Kostunica said.

He said that Serbia cannot wait to resolve this issue in the final stages of joining the organization, but has to insist for it to be resolved right away.

Kostunica stressed that he is not against the idea of the European Union, but he can't overlook the fact that that organization, when it comes to the way it relates to Serbia and its Kosovo-Metohija province, has been removed from itself and from the principles upon which it was established.

Regarding the upcoming elections in Serbia and the possible post-electoral coalitions, Kostunica said that today's signing of the SAA has further "deepened the differences" between his coalition [DSS-NS] and the one formed around the motto "For the European Serbia" [Tadic's DS, Canak's LSV and Dinkic's G17].

DSS-NS coalition can collaborate only with the parties which share its programme orientation, said the premier.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 07:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Bernard Kouchner Involved in KLA Organ Harvesting Atrocity?

Article by Niksa Bulatovic, Kurir

Milijana Mitrovic, one of Carla del Ponte's sources for facts about death camps where Serbs were stripped of their organs, claims that Romanians, Russians, Ukrainians, Greeks and Arabs were also tortured.

Albania is not a "blue tomb" only for Serbs and Serbs abducted from Kosovo and Metohija were not the only ones whose organs were harvested. White slaves from Romania, Moldavia, Russia, Ukraine, Greece, Montenegro, the Arab countries, etc. were also used for this purpose. The highest political leaders in Albanian state were involved in the affair, as well as Kosovo Liberation Army commanders and representatives of KFOR and UNMIK, Milijana Mitrovic testified in a statement for Kurir. She said she was one of Carla del Ponte's sources of information regarding death camps in Albania and Kosovo and Metohija province.

Ms. Mitrovic said that she saw these camps and has learned a lot about crimes thanks to her friendship with an influential Albanian businessman. However, when she told official Serbian authorities about this in 2002 [DOS which took over Serbian government in a CIA-funded coup], no one wanted to hear what she had to say. Moreover, some of them even threatened her and told her to remain quiet, and sent police representatives to question and harass her.

"The Albanians brought white slaves from various countries to entertain the members of UNMIK and KFOR as prostitutes. When they no longer needed them, they would take them to Albania to harvest their organs. There were camps in Kukesh, Elbasan, Flora and Drach; the 'yellow house' where their organs were removed was in Tirana (capital of Albania). The Americans, Germans and Englishmen participated in this," emphasized Mitrovic.

Mengele would be Envious...

She said that the healthiest males up to age of 45 were picked out among the imprisoned Serbs from Kosovo and Metohija, and transferred to U.S. military bases abroad, especially in Germany and Italy. Allegedly two missing Serb men from Kosovo and Metohija were seen in the U.S. base in Wiesbaden. She didn't know what was done with the abducted Serbs in those bases but there are indications that they were used as guinea pigs.

"Anyone who tried to escape would end up under the knife together with the others who were taken to the camps in Albania. Current and former Albanian premiers Sali Berisha and Fatos Nano were involved with the blessing of Bernard Kouchner, former UNMIK head and currently French foreign minister, a physician. Also involved were Ramush Haradinaj and his brother Daut, Agim Cheku and Hashim Thaci, as well as Halim Omer Osmani, Muhamed Luti, Enes Elmazi," recounted Mitrovic.

She said that in 2001 and 2002 some Serbian politicians, primarily belonging to the opposition at that time, were collecting money to find the kidnapped Serbs. The final sum was several hundred thousand German marks. Through the intercession of U.S. CIA Lieutenant-Colonel Michael Shaw (sp?) the money was given to a certain Kosovo Albanian. The Kosovo Albanian learned a lot but he was caught and killed, said Mitrovic.

Del Ponte Waited for the Fake State to be Declared Before Publishing her Book

Simo Spasic, president of the Association of Kidnapped and Abducted Kosovo-Metohija Serbs said that Milijana Mitrovic told then what she knew several years ago but they could not believe her. However, Carla del Ponte's Book "The Hunt: Me and the War Criminals" convinced them that she was telling the truth.

"We finally received Del Ponte's book from Italy and it states how many Serbs were transferred to Italy, and where their vital organs, intended for sale throughout Europe and America, were removed. The book will serve as evidence in our case against her because she hid the crimes while serving as Hague prosecutor. During a meeting with us in 2004 she told that our relatives and loved ones had all been killed but she didn't mention that they had been stripped of their organs," emphasized Spasic. In his opinion, Del Ponte calculatingly chose to reveal this after the criminals had proclaimed Kosovo's independence.

"If she had published this only four or five years ago, no country in the world would have recognized such a criminal state. The leaders of the so-called KLA would be in The Hague for their command responsibility," emphasized Spasic.

Posted by BBlog Staff at 10:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Serbian Orthodox Church to her spiritual children at Pascha, 2008

“Today all is filled with light,
heaven and earth and the lower regions;
therefore, let all creation celebrate the resurrection of Christ,
for in Him we are established.”

With these words of the great church hymnographer we congratulate you all on the Feast Day of Christ’s resurrection, and greet you, dear spiritual children, with the greeting,

Christ is Risen!

After Great and Holy Friday, the greatest tragedy of mankind, but also the glory of God when man became a merciless judge of God’s Love, when man judged and killed the God-Man Christ, when a lie, deceit, and delusion triumphed over the crucified Christ, when heaven and earth and the lower regions became ashamed because of the evil act of mankind, and when the darkness enwrapped everything – behold the Day of the Passover of the God-Man Christ from death to life, from the darkness of the tomb into the light of the Day.

Behold the Day above all days, the Time above all times, in which He has shattered the chains of sin, death, and the devil with which mankind and all of nature were imprisoned. Behold the day of our freedom and joy!

With the Resurrection of Christ, everything and all is filled with a new light of life, a light in which we are established. Therefore, let us rejoice and be glad in the Lord’s Pascha, the Feast Day of freedom and life. Those imprisoned by darkness most of all rejoice in the freedom of light.

With the Resurrection of Christ, the centuries old injustice brought upon man by sin and death has been conquered. The holy apostle Paul, overtaken by the resurrectional delight, victoriously asks: O death, where is thy sting? O Hell, where is thy victory? They are no more! For the sting of death has been broken, and Hades has been emptied, and the prisoners of Hades have been freed.

The light of the world has shone forth from the tomb like the Sun, just as before the passion it had shone on Mount Tabor. Let all creation rejoice in the Resurrection of Christ, for through its might the weak and helpless become strong and powerful.

In the Resurrection of Christ the entire universe has been changed. This is why the Resurrection is a new creation of the world and a new birth of man, this time from the very Life which the Resurrected Christ bestows upon the world and man. “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life,” says the Lord of Himself.

Inflicting the Deepest Wound, Unbearable Pain and Suffering through Historic Injustice

[...] In these days of Paschal joy, in this time of divine mercy toward all and everybody, we cannot but remember the human injustice and violence of the mighty of this world inflicted upon our Kosovo and Metohija, our Serbia and the entire Serbian nation.

Kosovo and Metohija are an integral part of every Serb’s life, as every Serb is a part of Kosovo and Metohija. Knowing this, the creators of this historic injustice wanted to inflict the deepest possible wound, unbearable pain and suffering, the pain and suffering which directs us to the single, salvific suffering on Golgotha of our Lord. Kosovo and Metohija is not only a question of Serbian territory. Above all it is a question of our spiritual beings, because we were born, grew, lived and matured with Kosovo and Metohija as individuals and as a nation.

We have lived and died by the Kosovo testament: “The earthly kingdom is transient, while the heavenly kingdom is forever!” This is why the question of Kosovo and Metohija is so vitally, psychologically and anthropologically connected with every one of us. This is well known to the mighty of this world, and this is why they collectively wish to hurt and punish the Serbian Orthodox people; they wish to break and crush them in order to make out of us a defaced mass ready to fall down on our knees before them, surrendering to their will and manipulation. By submitting ourselves to Christ’s will and His teachings, we bring light upon their unlawful acts, their hypocrisy, similar in many ways to Pilate’s washing of hands in the blood of the Righteous One.

Having Kosovo and Metohija in our hearts and our unceasing care for our brothers and sisters and all those that suffer there, having a living Kosovo and Metohija within ourselves day and night, no one will take them away from us. The Homeland is the heart of man, says one poet. Within our hearts we have placed Kosovo and Metohija.

Call to All Orthodox Serbs: Fulfill the Kosovo Covenant!

We call upon all Orthodox Serbs to fulfill the Kosovo covenant in full, and that is the Holy Lazar’s testament. If we complete that covenant no one will take Kosovo and Metohija away from us, neither in this nor that age, just as no one could have taken Holy Jerusalem from the Jewish people. We call upon all of you, beginning with politicians and scholars down to the most humble and youngest sons and daughters of our Homeland, that with their work and honorable lives we be deserving of and preserve Kosovo and Metohija before God.

Let scholars with their scientific work defend Kosovo and Metohija; let artists with their creativeness express the beauty and the essence of our Kosovo and Metohija; let athletes vow their successes to Kosovo and Metohija; let every parent have Kosovo and Metohija be a first word to whisper in his newborn’s ears; let every farmer dedicate his first hour of labor to Kosovo and Metohija; let every worker dedicate his first hour of work to Kosovo and Metohija; let every politician dedicate his first political thought to Kosovo and Metohija, let every pastor offer his first prayer to God for Kosovo and Metohija!

This is the call to the unending battle that will be well pleasing to God, and our prayer will be heard by God, for we do not give the question of Kosovo and Metohija into the hands of deceiving people and their interests, but rather to God and His judgment.

If I Forget You, Kosovo...

Just as the Psalmist of old sings of the unjustly taken and destroyed Jerusalem, we too must sing in the spirit of the Kosovo covenant: If we forget you Kosovo, if we forget you Metohija, let then the right hand of the Lord forget me! Let my tongue cleave to the roof of my mouth, if I do not remember you, if I do not put forward Kosovo and Metohija as the beginning of my joy.

The Civilization Opposed to the Resurrected Christ

Dear spiritual children, we live in a hard and critical time of globalization, in a time of the abolishing of basic human rights: the right of man to life; the right of a baby to be born; the right of parents to raise and guide their children; the right of a mother to be a loving and caring mother of her children and a wife to her husband, the right of man to be a man!

A strange civilization of globalization is being created according to the measure of deformed moral values, that is, immorality, without the yeast which gives human life eternal meaning. Such a civilization which is in direct opposition to the Resurrected Christ and His Gospel cannot survive.

Being mindful of this, let us be wise and cautious when we approach this strange table of worldly offers and delights. Let us choose wisely only that which is worthy of Christ; let us choose that which is worthy of our calling and dignity. Let us refuse all that is of pseudo-civilization, distorted and inhuman, just as Christ refused all the offers of the Devil: if you bow down to me all this that you see will be yours! We know the true answer: It is written: serve only God, and to Him only bow down![...]

Christ Is Risen!
Indeed He Is Risen!

Kosovo, the Most Expensive Serbian Word

Matija Beckovic, Serbian Academy of Science and Art, in the speech given in Canberra, Australia in 1989 on the occasion of the celebration of 600th anniversary of Kosovo Battle.

Six centuries ago, nothing more important was occurring on the globe than the Battle on Kosovo Field. Today too, after 600 Vidovdans, nothing is more fateful for the destiny of the Serbian nation than the battle that still rages in Kosovo and for Kosovo.

The outcome of the Kosovo Battle is yet unknown—as the one before, so too this today. From the very start two realities and two truths are enduring. And they are not yielding to each other. As the time moves on, it is all the less known whether the Kosovo wound will sanctify or devour us.

Kosovo dawns every morning. Every day is one anniversary and one memorial service. Today too, just like there on Vidovdan of 1389 it shows "who's the faith, and who a treachery". It is as if the Serbian people are fighting only one battle, dying in the same war and in the same field, widening the Kosovo bone repository, "weeping to a weeping adds", joining the new martyrs to the Kosovo martyrs.

Kosovo has long since reached Jadovno [Ustasha slaughter house for Serbs in WWII], and it is a miracle that the whole Serbian land hasn’t assumed the name of Kosovo.

Kosovo is the most expensive Serbian word. It was paid by the blood of the whole nation. With that price in blood it became enthroned on the throne of the Serbian language. Without blood it couldn’t have been bought, without blood it couldn’t be sold.

Kosovo is the equator of the Serbian planet. The roof of the lower and the foundation of the upper world. Kosovo is a hearth that assembles, a pillar that congregates the Serbian people. Kosovo is the crossroads on which the Serbs found themselves and found their path.

Kosovo is the deepest wound, the longest remembrance, the most vivid memory, the most beloved ash – the spiritual cradle of the Serbian people.

Recommended: Christ is Risen!, Serbian group Stupovi (YouTube); Glory to You, O Lord, Serbian Easter song, by Stupovi (YouTube); "Kosovo" and "Vidovdan", from the humanitarian concert for Kosovo, organized by the Serbian Delije (YouTube); KOLO, commercial showing the preparation stages for folk dance performance by Serbian ensemble "Kolo" (YouTube); Serbian folklore dance (YouTube); Medley of Serbian Folk Dances, Ensemble "Lola" (YouTube); Moravac, Traditional Serbian folk dance

Next Year in Pristina!

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The "International Court" which is Neither International, Nor Court

Yesterday's announcement that The Hague prosecution has issued indictments against the former Kosovo Albanian provisional minister Astrit Harachi and his assistant Bajrush Morina, charged of intimidating witnesses against recently acquitted KLA war criminal Ramush Haradinaj, has raised more questions, rather than providing some urgently needed answers.

If these two indictments were meant to demonstrate Hague's "impartiality" and to cover up the fact that Kangaroo court has acquitted of all 37 charges the KLA butcher responsible for countless atrocities and ethnic cleansing of Serbs and Roma in Kosovo-Metohija province, they didn't need to bother, because the entirely symbolic gesture is completely off the mark and sorely inadequate compensation for the Hague's catastrophic handling of each and every case involving war crimes against Serbian population throughout former Yugoslavia.

Furthermore, the involvement of the main officials who were supposed to represent the UN Secretary General in the Serbian province and who were in position to protect the witnesses and provide evidence in the case against Haradinaj, such as former UNMIK chief Søren Jessen-Petersen and his associates, or the current UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker, but who, instead, chose to support Haradinaj, enabling the murder spree in which 9 prosecution witnesses were killed, remains unaddressed by the Hague.

Along the same lines, there is also a small issue regarding Ruecker's American deputy, former brigadier general Steven Schook, who reportedly went further than hugging Haradinaj in public, telling the reporters how much he misses the thug and "getting drunk with Ramush Haradinaj once a week" — according to the UN's Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) which investigated his administration, Ruecker's deputy Steven Schook was directly responsible for at least one murdered witness, after he had "revealed the whereabouts of a man who had testified against Haradinaj", who was living under a UN witness protection program.

If the Hague can't issue indictments against Americans, Germans or Danes who, while representing the almighty "international community" in the Serbian province, showed contempt for the so-called international court, obstructed its work and directly or indirectly exposed prosecution witnesses to harassment, intimidation and murders, if the Hague tribunal can only imitate a real court by prosecuting few token local thugs who went door-to-door breaking arms and legs, then The Hague might drop the charade already and stop claiming to be something it is not, because in that case, it is neither international, nor court.

Written Testimony of the Prosecution Witness Against Haradinaj

Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti published excerpts from the written and signed testimony by Kujtim Berisha, ethnic Roma who personally witnessed a number of atrocious crimes committed by Haradinaj's gang of KLA cutthroats, who suffered in the hands of Haradinaj's butchers and who paid his willingness to testify in the Hague tribunal with his life. Berisha was killed by Haradinaj's thugs in Montenegro, where he was living as the Hague tribunal's "protected witness".

Kujtim Berisha testified before the Hague investigators in May 2004. As Ramush Haradinaj's first neighbor, Berisha described how Ramush with his brother Daut transported large quantities of weapons from Albania during 1997, after which he started a forced mobilization of Albanians for KLA, from his village Glodjani and the surrounding villages in Metohija.

Cowardly Murders of Policemen

"In March 1998 I worked in Musa Haskaj's pub in Rznic. One day Serbian policemen from [the town of] Decani came in the police vehicle — Momo Stijovic, N. Otovic and two more whom I didn't know. They met with [Albanian] Faik N. from the Gornja Luka village and asked to borrow his Mercedes-Benz, so they could go to Glodjani. Faik agreed. They went toward Glodjani, and we took tractor to the forest to cut wood. On our way, we met armed Albanians from Glodjani who were withdrawing toward Ratish. One of them said they were just shooting at Serbs and that Daut Haradinaj killed two policemen, one was N. Otovic and he didn't know the other. He added that the third policeman was wounded."

Rounding Up Roma for Forced Labor

This event made Berisha run away from the village. Half-way toward Djakovica he met two Serbian policemen who asked him to return home, promising they will restore order. The order was restored for a while, but under the pressure of the "international community", Serbian police was forced to leave Berisha's village Rznic.

"As they left, Ramush's people moved in to our village. They blocked the roads and we couldn't go anywhere any more. They rounded up us Roma and forced us to fill the sacks with sand for their trenches alongside Decani-Prizren road, and to dig KLA trenches around Glodjani. During that time, Ramush Haradinaj assigned his brother Daut and Idriz Baljaj with transporting weapons and ammunition from Albania. Whenever they were crossing the road Decani-Prizren they forced me and two other Roma, Besim Haskaj and Muarem N., to go ahead of them, so that they wouldn't be ambushed by the Serbian police. Later on, they used us as shields for Haradinaj's 500-men units. They wouldn't go anywhere before we were sent to check the ground first."

Monstrous Tortures by the KLA "Freedom Fighters"

Then the summer came and it was the harvesting time. Since Berisha was combine operator by profession, Haradinaj's KLA command for Metohija ordered him to take a combine and start harvesting the fields. The order enraged Idriz Baljaj, called Togger, Haradinaj's right hand, because he wanted to keep using Berisha as a human shield for his actions. Baljaj was in the meantime promoted in the terrorist KLA hierarchy and became the "military police commander" of the KLA in Rznic, where he formed his headquarters.

"At the beginning of July, Idriz Baljaj broke into my house during night with four other members of the KLA military police, dressed in black uniforms. Togger handcuffed me, they took my wife Sanija out of the bed and kept beating us on the way to KLA headquarters in Rznic. They threw me into a well over three meters deep as soon as we arrived, and took Sanija inside. A while later Gani Zenija and Taf Chefaj who were guarding Togger took me out of there. As soon as they brought me inside, Togger started beating me. I fainted out of the beatings. When I came to, I was tied up on a metal bed. This was their improvised torture machine. They ran electric currents through my body many times, before finally untying me and throwing me into a hallway. I was saved from the certain death by Sami Haskaj and few other neighbors.

"At that time, members of the KLA were bringing in four tied-up men. In order to prevent me from seeing who they were, they closed me into a metal safe. I was there more than 20 minutes. When they took me out, I recognized the [Albanian] policeman Zenun Gashi, then Mishin N. from Nepolje and his son Salji, and one other Albanian, someone later told me he was from the village Kosuric. Right there in front of the KLA headquarters, they ordered the prisoners to turn toward an apple tree. Togger took out the knife from his belt and cut Zenun Gashi's thigh straight through to the bone. One of his men brought salt and poured it into the wound, and the other was forcefully suturing the wound filled with salt, with some rusty needle tool, over the pants... Zenun screamed in pain and begged for help, but it was of no use...

"Togger then approached Mishin's son Salji and cut his nose off with the knife. He gave the cut nose to his father and forced him to eat it.

"He was threatening to cut me up all the time. Sami Haskaj kept asking him to let me go, while Togger was constantly trying to take me to execution with the others. Finally, he somehow changed his mind and let me and my wife go. As soon as we came home, my wife told me about how she was raped and humiliated. Later on, Sami Haskaj and Shemsudin Ceku came to my house and told me Togger won't bother me in future if I don't talk.

Mountain of Mutilated Corpses

"Four days later, on the road to Donji Ratish, Togger also killed the man who was supplying KLA with cigarettes, a Roman Catholic Albanian, whose name was Tush N. Even though this man could get to Ramush Haradinaj personally, Togger kidnapped Tush's wife, raped her with his group and then executed both of them. I saw their bodies when we were harvesting near the Radonjic Lake. We saw many human corpses right next to the ditch. Hadzi Zenaj and I approached and saw at least hundred massacred and killed people. We recognized Zenun Gashi, Misin N. and his son Salji, then Tush N. and his wife. We also recognized two elderly Serbian women who were massacred. Zenaj recognized two Serbian policemen killed personally by Haradinaj and Toger in Rznic, after dreadful tortures. We couldn't recognize anyone else, because the corpses were terribly mutilated, or in the process of decomposing. I heard that many more people were thrown straight in the lake and that their identity will never be discovered, nor who killed them."

Torture and Murders of Serbs and Disloyal Albanians Ordered by Ramush Haradinaj

Berisha also testified about a meeting of the KLA headquarters for Metohija, which was held in the backyard of the mosque in the Rznic village.

"While we were digging trenches around the mosque, at the meeting also attended by one KLA member from Drenica, the question was raised who killed Serbian policeman from Decani Slobo Prascevic and why. Prascevic was a commander of the police department and KLA apparently had lots of problems with the Serbian security forces because of his murder. Even though this meeting was like some sort of investigation, Togger stepped forth and said in front of everyone that Prascevic was killed by Daut Haradinaj and himself. He described how they ambushed Prascevic in front of the Orthodox church in Ratish, spraying his car with bullets. That's when they heavily wounded [Albanian] Kimeta N. from Ratish, who held her small child in the hands. Baljaj, called Togger, also said that all the actions against the Serbs and Albanian traitors have been ordered and approved by Ramush Haradinaj. This ended all talks about the murder of Prascevic."

After enduring torture, Berisha was again ordered to harvest the wheat in the valley of the river Drim.

"Once we gathered all the wheat on the Albanian fields, Hadzi Zenaj ordered me to harvest the field of the two Serbian women, mother and daughter from Gronji Ratish. We continued working near their house the next day. Around 11 a.m. Togger came, followed by two of his policemen. They took out of the house two elderly and weak women, beating them all along. They put them in their jeep and left in the direction of Radonjic Lake. Some twenty minutes later we heard few short gunshots. Hadzi Zenaj told me it was Togger who killed those two women too."

Kujtim Berisha, Hague's "protected witness", was killed two weeks before the start of Haradinaj's trial, hit by a car in an empty, deserted street in the suburbs of Podgorica, capital of neighboring Montenegro. The 26-year-old driver of the Mercedes-Benz who killed Berisha and gravely wounded his nephew and one other man, told Montenegro's investigative judge that he was blinded by the car coming from the opposite direction. But Berisha's nephew Salja, who was with his uncle, testified that there were no other cars anywhere near at the time.

Recommended: The E.U.’s Double Game in the Balkans, by Srdja Trifkovic (ChroniclesMagazine.org)

Posted by BBlog Staff at 12:02 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Serbia Organizes Elections in its Entire Territory

Kosovo-Metohija Minister Slobodan Samardzic said Wednesday that it is not Belgrade's intention to aggravate issues by organizing Serbian elections in Kosovo province, but to democratically elect representatives in the Serbian-populated regions, after the illegal declaration of independence by the Pristina separatists.

"The context has to be kept in mind: Belgrade does not recognize the unilateral independence of the southern Serbian province and we are now organizing elections throughout the territory of our state. Secondly, UNMIK chief Joachim Ruecker has illegally and in violation of the UN Security Council Resolution 1244, transfered the authority for holding elections [from the UN Mission in Kosovo] to the temporary, provisional government in Pristina [Albanian separatists]", Samardzic explained to the representatives of 15 leading Spanish media outlets whose visit to Belgrade was organized by the Spanish and Serbian embassies and the Madrid and Belgrade delegations of the European Commission.

Samardzic said that the local representatives elected in Kosovo-Metohija will represent the actual Serbian government in the province by the time the political agreement between Belgrade and UNMIK is reached, enabling Kosovo Serbs to remain on their land and have security, as the full-fledged citizens of Serbia.

Imposed EU Mission Serious Problem in the Serbia-EU Relations

Editors and reporters of the most influential Spanish media such as El Mundo, El Pais, Tiempo, Tele Madrid, ABC, Europe Press and others, showed great interest and a lot of understanding for the situation Serbia is in, after the unilateral and illegal declaration of independence by the Pristina separatists.

Minister Samardzic expressed deep gratitude to Spain for its principled position regarding the imposed severing of the southern Serbian province, stressing the significance Serbia places on Spain remaining firm in refusing to recognize the self-proclaimed independence by the ethnic Albanian separatists in Kosovo-Metohija province.

He told Spanish journalists that the situation in the province has worsened since the unilateral declaration of independence and after this illegal act was recognized by some states, which have done so under the pressure of the US and few of the EU member-states.

Samardzic reiterated that Serbia does not accept the EU mission (EULEX), which was sent to Kosovo-Metohija without Serbia's consent, without the UN Security Council approval and based on the illegal documents, such as Ahtisaari plan, which was never adopted by the UN Security Council, or the so-called "common action". He added that this is why the EU mission represents not only the legal, but also a political problem in the relations between Serbia and the European Union.

Brussels Diktat Unacceptable

Samardzic said that the split within Serbian government occurred after direct meddling of the EU bureaucrats in Serbia's internal affairs, when United States tossed Kosovo-Metohija province "like a hot potato" over to Brussels. The EU took it over as its own problem and it is now insisting on solving it in an entirely un-European, undemocratic way, not by reaching the consensus, but by imposing the solution to one of the sides — Serbia.

He pointed that Serbia started the negotiations on the Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU as a whole country, but since then two thirds of the EU member-states have recognized the self-proclaimed independence by the Pristina separatists.

"This is why the EU must clearly and indisputably state its position regarding what was done with Kosovo-Metohija", Samardzic said, adding that Belgrade still supports compromise solution for the southern Serbian province, offering the wide, essential autonomy to Kosovo Albanians, to the extent which is unprecedented in the world.

There are Many De Facto Situations...

Asked what is Serbia's response to the de facto independence of Kosovo province, Samardzic said that de facto is not the legal solution (de jure) and, as such, it is unacceptable to Belgrade. He added that there are other de facto situations, like de facto institutions in the areas populated by the Serbs, which are controlled by Belgrade.

"But Serbia does not accept de facto situations, and it requests that the negotiations for reaching a compromise and long-term solution are continued," Samardzic said.

He also rejected the idea of partitioning the province, stressing that official Belgrade never suggested anything similar and warning that partition is an extremely dangerous proposition in a region where Serbia is a central state, and where such drive could cause a chain reaction that would be very difficult to control.

Recommended: Can elections change anything?, by Nebojsa Malic (AntiWar.com)

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Maj. General Raul Cunha: Kosovo Problem Created, Not Solved by the West

"The policy of the European Union and West toward Kosovo is completely hypocritical and incoherent, it is the policy that leads to instability", Major General Raul Cunha, UNMIK's Chief Military Liaison Officer told Italian Osservatorio sui Balcani.

General Cunha, the highest ranking military officer within the UN structures based in southern Serbian province of Kosovo and Metohija, especially criticized the way illegal EU mission is being imposed in the province, stressing it is essential for UNMIK to remain in the regions populated by the Serbs.

"UNMIK (UN Mission in Kosovo) is the sole authority Serbs recognize [in Kosovo province], especially in the regions where minority ethnic communities have the executive power. I'm talking about the municipalities where there are Serbian mayors who do not recognize Albanian institutions", Portuguese officer said.

"If there was no UNMIK, those mayors would be presidents of the autonomous governments within Kosovo, which seems illogical," he added.

He assessed that the UN will have to stay in Kosovo and Metohija province until the Serbs accept "some form of transition" which, according to Cunha, is "practically impossible", at least "until the European Union creates an El Dorado there."

"Only then the Serbian community might, perhaps, accept the EU presence... But it will take years and years before the El Dorado of the European Union becomes a reality — if ever", General Cunha said.

Brussels Pays Itself in Kosovo Province, by Financing its Own "Consultants"

Portuguese general sharply criticized the "incoherence of the Western part of the international community", accusing the EU of "appallingly" spending the moneys designated for the economic development of Kosovo province.

"The situation here is not good and we bear a lot of responsibility, the Western part of the international community," said General Cunha, claiming that Brussels has spent €4 billion supposedly for the economic development, but is, in fact, paying that money to itself.

"We have been investing here in the worst possible way, and we weren't very careful with the money either... When I look at the numbers, I see that 80 percent of that amount was spent on the 'consulting services' and 'building the capacities', except that, frankly speaking, none of those capacities were built," he said.

Elite EU States are Profiteering through Kosovo-Metohija

"The money was spent appallingly... If we had invested it in the development of one real power plant, in schools and good universities, perhaps we would see some results," said Cunha, accusing the EU for those failures, because the pillar of UNMIK assigned the task of rebuilding and economic development was, from 1999, in the Brussels' hands.

UNMIK's military chief asserted that the EU pillar within UNMIK has done absolutely nothing during the past 9 years, except denationalizing Serbian companies and "placing them in the hands of the rather unsavory individuals."

General Cunha explained that out of €4 billion the EU has 'invested' in economic development, 80 percent was spent on 'building the capacities' and for consulting fees, "which means that €3,2 billion were returned to 'the base', and that 'base' consists of two or three EU states".

"The EU is paying as a whole, and two or three states are profiteering in Kosovo. That's right — profiteering, that is the proper word for it. Therefore, prolonging a situation like this might be in their interest," the Portuguese general said.

He said that many within UNMIK don't have the clean hands either.

"However, regarding the corruption and the large sums of money, I'm sure that the worst offenses took place precisely in the rebuilding and economic development sector, run by the EU," the general added.

Serbs will Never Accept the EU Rule

He stressed that it was naive to think that "the Serbs will accept everything as long as the EU keeps dangling a carrot".

"Such thinking created an excess of optimism, which was proven unfounded," Cunha said.

General Cunha assessed that Kosovo Serbs will probably "never accept the EU rule".

He also criticized the KFOR (NATO) commander who recently stated that the "Kosovo problem can be solved only biologically".

"This could mean that the majority of the Serbian residents in Kosovo are elderly [...] and that only when those people die, the problem of the Serbian community will disappear", Cunha said.

"Men on the ground know that the concept of the multiethnic society looks perfect on paper, but having the two ethnic communities leading completely separate lives, as is the case in Kosovo, certainly does not represent the multiethnic society", he said.

Imposing the EU Colonial Governor Won't Succeed

General Cunha added that he supported the idea of the EULEX (EU mission) being integrated in the UNMIK structures in Kosovo-Metohija province, as a department assigned the police and justice, being that the UN Security Council has not approved the deployment of the EU mission.

"What is not possible is to integrate the position of the international civil representative in the UNMIK", a position assigned to Peter Feith by the countries which have recognized the unilateral declaration of independence by the Pristina separatists, said Cunha.

"The only way would be if that 'international civil representative' is, at the same time, the UN secretary general's special envoy", Cunha said.

"We are Either Liars of Hypocrites"

He assessed that the current process is "discrediting and weakening the UN role".

"Discrediting of the Security Council and of the UN Secretary General in regards to Kosovo will lead to discrediting the UN on a global level", the Portuguese general believes.

"Solana keeps saying that we are creating stability in the Balkans", even though all along "the way this operation is being run actually leads to instability, not to stability," said General Cunha.

"When we say this is the 'unique case' which doesn't represent a precedent, we are either lying or we are being hypocritical. Of course that no two cases are identical. Each is unique, but all of them have something in common: a desire of one group to secede from the other to create its own state. That is the same everywhere," Major General Raul Cunha said.

Recommended: Confusion and Corruption in Kosovo: Part 1, Part 2, by Walter Mayr (SpiegelOnline.com)

Posted by BBlog Staff at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Tomislav Nikolic for Stable, Ideologically United Government

"I'm entirely prepared to openly offer Kostunica the choice between the position of a premier or the majority of the government ministers", Serbian Radical Party (SRS) deputy leader Tomislav Nikolic told Novosti, hoping that "after May 11, Serbia will finally get an ideologically united and the only possible government of Radicals and [Kostunca's] DSS [Democratic Party of Serbia]."

Q: Do you believe Kostunica would choose the premiership?

TN: I can't tell you now whether Nikolic or Kostunica will be the prime minister, but I'm certain that the negotiations will be sincere. From the aspect of the reasonable political relations, it would be natural that the member of the coalition party which received bigger support gets the premiership. On the other hand, if we were to insist on the things Kostunica might not accept, we would jeopardize the formation of the new government. This is why I want to exclude the blackmails. Partly due to the fact SRS would be the member of a new coalition, we would have the correct and clear coalition relations for the first time. This offer to DSS is, in fact, an offer to Serbia to finally get out of the crisis.

Q: In case Kostunica keeps the post of premier, which position would belong to you?

TN: I am completely unimportant. Kostunica is unimportant too, because no one asked him yet whether he sees himself in that role. Therefore, everything is the subject of the party agreement. After all, my authority within the [SRS] party is such that the functioning of SRS ministers will depend on me even if I'm not the prime minister.

Kostunica Can't be Fooled Any Longer

Q: If DSS refuses your offer once again, will that be your final offer to them?

TN: In case they refuse, Serbia would not be able to offer anything any more. It is quite possible that, a year or so ago, someone from the EU told Kostunica they will give up on the independence of Kosovo and Metohija if Kostunica forms the government with [Tadic's] DS, even though Kostunica was in deep conflict with them back then already. But the circumstances have changed. Kostunica has the entirely clear picture now. If he stands behind his public statements, then there is no question whether we shall form the government together.

Q: You have definitely discarded the option of reconciliation between DS [Tadic] and DSS [Kostunica]?

TN: I don't see how is it possible for Kostunica and Tadic, after everything that went on between the two of them, to form the government again. Those two policies are now opposed to such an extent that it would be quite humiliating for Serbia if they were to get together again.

Q: Which election result guarantees you will enter the government?

TN: I believe we shall be honored to claim at least 100 mandates [MP posts in the Parliament], or around 40 percent of the votes. This is our year.

Q: Do you have a wish-list regarding the ministry departments?

TN: I honestly didn't even think about that, because we also plan to offer the national minorities to take part in our government.

Q: Is the offer to ethnic Hungarians to take over the police ministry still on the table?

TN: Yes, it is. Unlike the others, we are not the party with an imperative to run the police ministry, in order to protect or persecute someone. Due to the constant stories about Hungarian minority being endangered by our police, it would be good if they finally realized they too have to assume some state responsibilities.

We Have Been Purposely Kept Isolated from Most of the World All These Years

Q: Would your government carry out the Stabilization and Association Agreement if it was signed by [vice premier] Djelic prior to the elections?

TN: Such signature would not oblige us in any way, because this would be a DS agreement. Djelic is no longer the vice premier and he has no right to burden some future government with commitments based on his personal decisions. Tadic keeps deceiving us, claiming that the EU in that agreement recognizes Kosovo as the integral part of Serbia, despite the fact that the EU has already recognized the independence. So, SAA is merely a marketing trick, for them to make waves during the campaign.

Q: What will you do if the EU doesn't amend the SAA with the statement that Kosovo is integral part of Serbia?

TN: The agreement is off then, because the EU would clearly show it does not want us.

Q: And what kind of alternatives would you suggest?

TN: The alternative