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Tenth anniversary of NATO air strikes
B92 ^ | March 24, 2009 | B92/FoNet/Beta

Posted on 03/24/2009 6:19:39 AM PDT by Ravnagora

BELGRADE -- Today is the tenth anniversary of the NATO air strikes on the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).

The scenes 10 years ago (FoNet, archive)

At midday, air raid sirens sounded throughout the country in a mark of remembrance for the victims.

The government, which has decided to build a memorial center dedicated to the victims of the air strikes, called on all citizens to stop whatever they were doing and respect the minute’s silence for the victims.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetković said that the air strikes had been an illegal act that could have been avoided.

"Could the bombing have been avoided? We know the answer. Only reason can prevail over evil," he told a special cabinet meeting today.

Cvetković said that 1,002 soldiers and police officers had perished during the bombing, as well as around 2,500 civilians, including 89 children, while 12,500 people had been injured.

He underlined that the air strikes had not solved the problems in Kosovo, nor had they established the rule of law or peace in the province.

He said that Serbia had elected to resolve the problem using peaceful and democratic means, but that it would never recognize Kosovo's unilateral independence.

"The bombing led to long-term detrimental repercussions for Serbia. For the future of our children, we must not let this happen again," the prime minister stressed.

Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said that the bombing had been carried out without the UN’s authorization and that its result had been Kosovo’s declaration of independence.

"Whatever the cause was, that campaign should not have been carried out in a democratic, civilized world. That was a crime against our people,“ said Dačić.

He added that in the same way as the air strikes had been launched against Serbia, certain countries had recognized Kosovo’s independence in contravention of the principles of international law.

The anniversary of the bombing was also marked at the Russian House in a ceremony attended by representatives of the government, the Russian Duma, businessmen and politicians.

Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Konuzin said that now, instead of military bombs, bombs of a political nature were falling on Serbia.

“No-one had any illusion as to the intention of taking Kosovo from Serbia, while even now there are no illusions that the wish of the European presence in Kosovo, which is squeezing out the UN, is to implement the Ahtisaari plan. But even that’s not the last political bomb. From The Hague they’re bombing you with harsh condemnations of Serbs,” Konuzin stressed.

During the 78 days of the air strikes, in a campaign titled Operation Allied Force, over 3,000 people perished, while civilian and military infrastructure suffered severe damage. Economists have estimated the vale of the damage at USD 29.6 bn.

_________________


TOPICS: Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: bombing; kosovo; nato; serbia
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To: Tailgunner Joe
"The ability to do whatever we want is part of what makes us sovereign. No "international law" or anyone else can stop us because we are sovereign."

Our sovereignty is defined by the ability to defend our borders; the ability to be run by the form of government defined by our Constitution; and for our foreign policies to be our own, not defined by some outside organization. It is NOT defined by our ability to irresponsibly do whatever we want to whoever we want and expect no consequences, because we are to "too important to care".

The liberal us politicians and globalists behind the NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia are the same ones who want to ERASE OUR BORDERS, give benefits to illegals and destroy the "international concept of sovereignty" that precedes the creation of the UN and other global organizations by hundreds of years!

Former President Clinton ignored the Constitution in declaring war on Yugoslavia without the permission of Congress, and was actually sued by members of Congress for that action.. Congress didn't sue because because he acted aganist Yugoslavia, but because he acted AGAINST THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION!

NATO is NOT the USA!

NATO was chartered as a purely defensive organization during the Cold War to defeat the Soviet Union and should have been buried when the Cold War was over. But the stinking corpse of NATO was resurrected by globalists as an aggressive organization, ignoring its original "preservation of peace" charter. NATO today is ANTI-SOVEREIGNTY, because, according to the rules of NATO, "an attack on a NATO member" is to be treated as "an attack upon all NATO members". That means if Georgia had (as Bush & McCain wanted) been able to join NATO, we would be at war with Russia right now over what happened last summer in Georgia. NATO would have expected us to treat Georgia's borders as though it were THE US BORDER and Russia had just invaded us! That is completely ridiculous and turns the concept of sovereignty so inside-out as to be incomprehensible.

The NATO Bombing of Yugoslavia was not just an act against Yugoslavia, it was an aggressive act against the Constitution and the defining principles of America! Many of us already realize that -- and yet some never will get it.

21 posted on 03/25/2009 3:30:19 PM PDT by Bokababe (Save Christian Kosovo! http://www.savekosovo.org)
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To: Red6

Thanks for offering nothing of value, talk about a waste of time.


22 posted on 03/26/2009 10:55:12 AM PDT by montyspython (Love that chicken from Popeye's)
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To: montyspython
Value?

You mean tear jerking stories in slow motion from 20 different angles of innocent people being hurt, make belief statistics of casualties, huge numbers being thrown around to shock you.............

If you want to learn how to “really” go overboard with this tear jerking trash that's sold as news, you can learn a lot from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salam_Daher

23 posted on 03/26/2009 2:38:58 PM PDT by Red6
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