Posted on 01/22/2002 2:52:18 PM PST by enrg
Skopje, Macedonia – Last Summer, rumors of an unstated connection between NATO and the NLA persisted in Macedonia. Two occasions in particular drew attention. First, the Battle of Aracinovo, in which German and Macedonian sources alleged that 17 "advisors" from MPRI took part on the Albanian side; Macedonian security sources claim that three Americans were among those killed. Second, was a mysterious airdrop by a US helicopter over the NLA stronghold of Sipkovice, filmed by a Macedonian television crew. They claimed that a "container," perhaps of weapons, was being given to the Albanians, for use against the Macedonian security forces. While American diplomats and NGO's scoff at such claims, it is well known that the KLA in Kosovo was armed by NATO, and that its core element retained power with the establishment of the Kosovo Protection Corps (KPC), a kind of Albanian gendarmerie that has aided in both the expulsion of the Serbs, and the smuggling of weapons, guns and women, the last often to service NATO troops in Kosovo. And as recently as last summer, Albanians wounded in border-crossing shoot-outs were rushed to Camp Bondsteel for treatment. New evidence also attests to some kind of connection, though it cannot be determined whether this connection is of a formal or informal nature.
A report of 15 December 2001, made available to me by the Macedonian government, describes an automobile accident near the Kosovo-Macedonia border. The accident was due to snow, excessive speed, and an overloaded vehicle. We learn:
"On the road Skopje-Blace border crossing, around 15:20 hours, six people died in a car accident. The car, an 'Opel Ascona' (plates Nr. SK-269-KK) driven by Abdulai Arif, due to the overweight of the car and the high speed, crossed to the left side of the road and crashed with a bus (plates NR KO-148-69) driven by Ibishi Sefedin, citizen of FR Yugoslavia. The following people who were in the 'Opel' died:
Abdulai Arif (36);
Naim Limani (16);
Fejzula Shakir (23);
Skender Asani (22);
Atmi Bajrami (22); and
Raif Ademi (30).
According to sources from the court, three of the six ethnic Albanians who died were members of the so-called NLA. The driver of the car, Abdulai Arif, was cousin of Shakiri Jezair (the so-called Commander Hodja). Emblems of the so-called NLA were found in the car, the ID of Commander Toda, and an ID pass for a person employed in the US army.
The six dead people were buried in the village of Aracinovo, in the part of the graveyard where the important people of the village are buried. MP's from the PDP were present at the funeral."
Government officials told me that the US Army pass mentioned was one that could be used for entering Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo. It was unclear whether it was the pass of a particular soldier (which might indicate theft), or a general entry pass. In any case, the implications of the report occupy the same nebulous region as those involving the MPRI soldiers and the Sipkovice airdrop. These things may never be known, but there is no denying the growth of a body of circumstantial evidence to suggest some sort of collusion.
Christopher Deliso is a journalist and travel writer with special interest in current events in the areas of the former Byzantine Empire – the Balkans, Greece, Turkey, and Caucasus. Mr. Deliso holds a master's degree with honors in Byzantine Studies (from Oxford University), and has traveled widely in the region. His current long-term research projects include the Macedonia issue, the Cyprus problem, and ethnography of Byzantine Georgia.
Hoplite, all I am saying is that if wars were not profitable they would not be fought. In some way, direct or indirect, usually post bellum, the winning side reaps rewards. These rewards may or may not be material, but usually are.
That is universally true, or so it seems to me.
As was the case in the past and in the recent times, we have fostered various scumbag dictators from Korea to our oun shores as "courageous" anti-communist friends and allies. Various South Korean generals, various Turkish military regimes, Greek military regime that deposed the king, Generalissimo Franco in fascist Spain, Batista in Cuba, Balaguer in the Dominican Republic (the invasion of which by the US in the 1960's is all but forgotten), Papa Doc and his son in Haiti (note: the current US-installed regime is no less democratic, just more politically correct), the Contra terrorists we call "guerrillas," Gen. Pinochet of Chile responsable for killing Allende, Gen. Noriega who was a "good" drug dealer as long as he worked with the CIA, then fell form grace, the regime in Saudi Arabia, all the current Balkan regimes, installed or bought by the US, and the list goes on.
For a people who claim to have moral supeirority and dedication to truth, such words sure sound hollow in the backdrop of how we approach the world and make it safer for democracy. Fine example, indeed.
The links I use are pro-Serb by default. I post from as mainstream a sourcing as possible.
If anything can be said about Israelis, it is that they have more diversified opinions than you can count and yet they are all pro-Israeli.
The fact that some non-Israelis use "pro-Israeli" position (Christian right in America, for instance, or some other narrow-interest groups) to further their politicial aim and gain influence is unfortunate, but I think the way the you constructed the sentence gave the impression, at first, of a different kind.
Tamodaelko, if you re-read what she wrote, I think you will see the difference. It's thin, but it's there.
That being so, my internal conflict is not with the fact that we are an empire and behave as one, but that we deny it publicly.
Instead, we come accross as the "good guys," peace makers, and so on. We invoke "moral high gorund" and even God in our righteousness. We fight the other side's lies with lies of our own rather than with truth; we apply double standards, one set for us and the other for the world, and our insatiable interest and the need to control is masked as almost philantropic.
If we simply stated our aims, stated that we are the best of the worst choices, and be done with it, I could live wiht that -- for if we are not the ones who rule the world, someone else will. I only wish we would drop the transparent act.
A gilded cage is still a cage. "Empire" may be good for some but is always resented. In addition I have to laugh at the postings going about in regard to Iraq.
I have stated publicly that the Iraqi war is justified if it comes, but to read the posts here about those European countries who do not see the Iraq situation reinforces the belief I have that the USA as a people do not want friends. True friends tell you to your face that your drunk and can't drive home. They tell you the ugly things to your face no one else can.
When our allies voice their opinions we do not say-we respectfully disagree dear allies, we go ballistic! Like I said before, we want compliant Quislings, not true allies and this is sadly also a lesson other nations are learning about us to our future detriment.
I hold my hands up and admit that it probably does sound thin, but there is a clear link. I was listening to many things yesterday about Holocaust Day and remembering how many Jewish writers and politicians spoke with such venom against the Serbs and totally in 'empathy' with the Albanians. I always found this very ironic when placed into an historical context, and thought so again yesterday.
I may have put it unclearly, but the point is pretty straightforward. Tamodaleko, just for the record I am most certainly not a bigot or an anti-semite, but it doesn't mean that I can't criticise Jewish politicians or writers (as I'm sure you'll agree). The most rapid argument that I recently heard about Sharon was between two Jewish people - one who despises him and what he's doing, and the other who supports his actions.
There are numerous Jewish individuals who have expressly supported and defended the Serb position, and there are many Israeli publications with the same sentiment.
You must understand that Jews are as heterogenious as any other group of people and have as many opinions as well. The American establishment, including many leading Jewish Americans with high public profile, assumed an anti-Serb stance. The fact that they are Jewish is irrelevant, Kate. It's the American establishment, as a whole, that has taken sides this time, as it always has.
When George Clloney recently made some uncalled for remarks about Charlton Heston's condition, we can not conclude that Clooney speaks for all Catholics, all Irish or all white people, can we? Bear that in mind.
Kosta
A "true" ally is a dependable one. States do not develop personal relationships, just working relationships. There are states that benefit and those that hurt national interests.
I remember soemone once remakrked that Grobachov, while visiting the US, was a "nice guy." One does not become the head of the Soviet presidium, with everyone and his brother trying to get that position, by being a nice guy. He had to eliminate, figuratively or not, an awful lot of competition to get there. The same holds true for other states as well.
I think people put too many emotions into a country, which is an otherwise pragamatic and emotionless body called a state.
An empire doesn't want friends and equals, just obedient subjects.
For 50 years after 1945 the World was a battlegroud in the "Cold War" between Communist, and Capitalist ideologues. The Soviets, Chinese, and US, all sought to install their surrogates. This applied to every country in the world. Sometimes, "Dirty" wars were fought, which resulted in criminal actions by the participants. The US thought, on balance that the abuses of human rights in South America, for instance, were outweighed by the need to protect the US from Communism in its own back yard.
The "backlash" you see today is from the "defeated" left. Communist sympathisers in the past, who are very resentful that Capitalism, and the US won. They are also resentful that they were on the receiving end of brutal tactics in many cases.
Seeing as you appear to be Greek, I'll give you an example....Greece.
The Greek left hate America, they kill Americans if they can. Their justification is the brutal rule of the "Colonels". What the left won't admit is that the "Colonels", were a US reaction to Soviet attempts to engineer a regime in Greece that would have been a Soviet surrogate.
"Stalin based his willingness to support communist revolts on two criteria: his comprehension of the probable Western responses, especially those that might threaten the Soviet Union; and his estimation of the client revolutionary group's chances for success. These elements were often interrelated in his planning. As he had told the Yugoslavs in early 1948, the commitment of the United States ("the most powerful state in the world") and Great Britain to Greece meant that the bloc had to retreat tactically and end support for the Greek communist insurgency because it had no chance to succeed in the foreseeable future." >
http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/macdon.htm
It was between communisim and a form of Western socialisim or did you not know, as a "Brit" of the Socialist utopian programs carried out in the UK, and in milder forms in the USA and Western Europe after WW2?
But its ok, its not like you went to college or anything.
Yea I have--new Socialisim undr a different name. Your telling me that these movements are not Socialisim lite or socialisim with a human face?
I hear of Reagan and Thatcher--and their times in office prove my point. They were elected as a reaction to the Left. They did much good but failed to kill off the nanny state.
Gael don’t need no help, but thanks anyway for thinking of me.
But don't you think that if an individual uses an argument based on their personal background, then it does become relevant? For example the American Jewish politicians who were at the very forefront of the Nato attack on Serbia who used WWII history and events which had happened to their families in Europe to support their argument. That was the height of hypocrisy, as was supporting the Albanian vision and denigrating the entire Serbian nation.
Some Jewish commentators noted this at the time and were very angry at the 'ethnic cleansing' being alikened to the Holocaust, and images being deliberately emphasised to evoke comparisons. These particular people were speaking as members of the Jewish community (American or otherwise). If this issue was not a focus, then it would be totally irrelevant to raise it.
The irony of all of this Kosta, was that my original comments were in part triggered off by this comment from one ill-informed Serbophobe to you (remember?):
The real truth is that there is a substantial strain of racism associated with this "cult" of "victimhood". The Palestinian’s use it to justify their hatred of Israel. The Serbs use it as justification for their hatred of the Croatians, the Bosnians, and the Kosovans.
Every sane person would agree that this statement is based on total ignorance and blindly anti-Serbian feelings.
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