| WAR IN Yugoslavia | |||||||||
| f-117A |
Ann Graham, Rutgers University, New Jersey Unfortunately, it seems that from your perspective Americans are fond of bombing. Although most Americans approve of the bombing, many of us do not. In fact we are sponsoring a teach-in about the situation today on our campus. I hope that more Americans will learn - Often we do think too much as in movies because we are too far away from the real lives of people who are suffering. The bombing is a violation of NATO charter and the UN Charter but our country often thinks we are above these issues when we become the "moral authority" of the world. Believe me, many Americans are quite concerned and especially when we see on the news everyday what is happening to the people in Kosovo. We do not hear much about how it is affecting the people in Serbia. No there is no need to repeat Vietnam. I will look for your name in the newspapers. Please take care - I do think about you. Fondly,Ann | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
|
CENTER FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NON-PROFIT SECTOR Francuska 38 Belgrade FR Yugoslavia E-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] http://www.crnps.org.yu Appeal to International Governmental and Non-Governmental Organizations, Foundations and Goodwilling People STOP THE SENSELESS BOMBING - PREVENT THE HUMANITARIAN DISASTER! We appeal to international governmental and non-governmental organizations, foundations and all the goodwilling people - especially those who have already worked in the FR Yugoslavia - to petition their governments in urgently stopping the NATO aggression causing deaths of innocent people and destruction of material goods. This country needs aid for its renewal, because all of its citizens are faced with the humanitarian disaster due to senseless bombing. We ask you to come up with reasonable solutions. If only several billion dollars, spent for the destruction of people and their material resources, were used for the society development - this crisis would never occur. The air strikes against FRY do not bring us, or the world in general, closer to a humane, civilized and democratic society. Each new bomb and missile carry us further from these universal human ideals and values. Therefore, we all have to plead for the abandonment of force. We appeal to you to prevent, with your actions, the killings of innocent citizens of FRY and destruction of their material and cultural wealth. Zarko Paunovic, Director Center for the Development of Non-Profit Sector | PCD (Potential Collateral Damage)Target | ||||||||
|
| |||||||||
| No planes crashed?!!! |
Interview to Outtherenews From: Out There News Editor To: Svetlana Djuric Subject: Re: No news from you Date: Monday, April 12, 1999 11:29 AM Dear Svetlana, Hello - this time I am putting the whole transcript inside this message. Hope it gets through to you ok. Hope you are safe and well. Thanks for the various messages you are sending. sophie Copyright 1999 America Online, UKMC 3: Now it's proving harder! We'll plug away for a minute or two. UKMC 3: Svetlana is with us now... UKMC 3: Welcome everybody. We have the chance tonight to talk live to a Serb journalist in Belgrade, so we decided to seize it rather than talk again to John West in Macedonia, who has been online with us for the last four days. Yesterday John linked us with an ethnic Albanian victim of Serb ethnic cleansing, Fadil. Today we're chatting to a Serb journalist in Belgrade called Svetlana Djuric to get the other side of the story. Svetlana has a young son who she takes to the rock concerts in the centre of town every day to try to cheer him up as the bombs keep raining down. Svetlana is very embittered by NATO's bombing campaign. She says it is uprooting as many Serbs as Albanians and that the only thing making people move out of the country is the fear of more bombs, not the alleged Serbian atrocities in Kosovo. UKMC 3: Svetlana, here's the first question from GHarris616 Question: is it true there have been heavy cilvilian casualties OTSvetlana: I can't say that I am aware of heavy civilian casualties in Belgrade where I live. There were some last night in Aleksinac - you must have seen images of that on tv and personally I have spoken with my cleaning lady who lives in Aleksinac she went there yesterday and said it was horrible. UKMC 3: Jpf51286 asks... Question: We all herd the about the cease fire that was offered, but how long do you think it will hold and was it offered because of easter or that Yug. troops are hurt badly? OTSvetlana: What I have heard is that Mr Clinton rejected the offer and did not want to consider the offer at all....That's all I know about the ceasefire... I would not think the ceasefire is linked to Easter or to the conditions of the Yugoslav army...my guess is that this offer is the result of some Russian policy. UKMC 3: Svetlana, lots of people have been asking in our chats about the three US servicemen who were captured. For instance, there's this question fromOla917...Question: Has there been any further word about the three prisoners? OTSvetlana: No - we haven't heard anything more since the first day after they were arrested...the big question was what their status is in their trial... and only the US can decide exactly what their status is... At one point the Pentagon declared them to be prisoners of war, and if that is the case, the US has to declare war on Yugoslavia first and that has not happened yet...the US is avoiding declaring war. UKMC 3: Here's a followup on the ceasefire from Zeroarc... Question: In your opinion, will the Yugoslavian government hold on to the cease fire, or now that NATO and Clinton has rejected it, will the militray continue with its movements? OTSvetlana: That is something that I have no way of knowing...I believe the Yugoslavs have reason to try to be positive at this point...the offer is a sign of good will for a start. UKMC 3: Andcolella asks... Question: svetlana hi. What serbian people know about what is going on in Kossova? OTSvetlana: They know a lot. I cannot say that our media do report everything... but we know enough to be aware that the international media are also blowing up the story. UKMC 3: BeeLike would like to know... Question: Have many Serbs left Yugoslavia for other areas? OTSvetlana: At least 100,000 people have left their homes from Belgrade... statistics show that....of fifty people that I personally know... at least 35 have left.... some have gone out of town, some have gone to Hungary or Romania or even another ..continent if they could. UKMC 3: Vip3007 asks... Question: How do Serbians feel about Milosevic? Here in the US, there are mixed opinions. OTSvetlana: At this point... somehow, Milosevic has been marginalised in the sense that his political meaning is pushed aside ..and for a majority of people here, who are living under mortal threat of bombs...he is just a superior commander now. UKMC 3: RitaJWill asks a direct question... Question: svetlana, do you understand what serbian troops have done to ethnic albanians in kosovo? OTSvetlana: I have no direct knowledge about that....I have reasons to doubt that anyone has such knowledge...that means international media are in the same position as I am...and everyone is just guessing and imagining. UKMC 3: Welcome to anyone who has joined in the last few minutes. We are talking live to a Serb journalist in Belgrade - we had the chance of this so we seize it rather than talk again to John West in Macedonia, who has been online with us for the last four days. Yesterday John linked us with an ethnic Albanian victim of Serb ethnic cleansing, Fadil. Today we're chatting to a Serb journalist in Belgrade called Svetlana Djuric to get the other side of the story. UKMC 3: Hoosier84 would like to know... Question: Has the bombing been accurate - is it obvious the primary targets are being hit and not nearby buildings? OTSvetlana: I have always doubted the accuracy of these missiles. If they claim to be accurate then their action is even more monstruous because they are hitting apartment buildings in the middle of town, schools, central heating systems... neighbourhood hospitals systematically. UKMC 3: Kusab asks... Question: Do we have it all wrong here in the U.S.? We see a holocaust type thing by Serbs against Kosovars! OTSvetlana: Some of the videos that we are seeing of atrocities in Kosovo...they are obviously fake... in a sense that they show women with vegetables that only grow in the September - October season...and it's impossible that those vegetables would be around in March, and by showing those videos repeatedly, a multiple effect is being achieved... Being Jewish myself, I am extremely sensitive to the word holocaust and I wouldn't say that what is happening in Kosovo could ever be compared. UKMC 3: GRam765451 asks... Question: What can Svetlana see for her country in the next 12 months ? OTSvetlana: Disaster, misery and chaos and hundreds of thousands of refugees probably millions of non-Albanian refugees knocking at European and non-European doors... I myself am a refugee already. I am not in my own apartment as I speak to you.I have had to leave home with my child and my mother took her dog to another place because we live next to a military library and cinema and a similar building was completely destroyed two nights ago in another neighbourhood of Belgrade.. I will have to leave the country in the end, because I see no future here for my children and myself. UKMC 3: Lam283 wonders... Question: What motive would the international media have for blowing up the story? OTSvetlana: I have no illusions whatsoever about the dimensions of freedom of some free media.I am a media person myself and I am familiar with a lot of serious studies done in Finland on real stockholders of all the big media networks in the world and the bottom line is that 99% of the media in the world are owned by Chase Manhattan Bank...I am referring to a study done by UNESCO through an institute in Finland years ago. UKMC 3: Sketti0 says... Hello, Svetlana... What do you tell your child about what is happening? OTSvetlana: It is a very difficult task...He is 9 years old and he is listening to explosions and watching buildings in flames around the town,his elder brother is in the army, and children of such a young age are aware that we are under attack.There is nothing much a parent can add or explain to a child when he is living in terror. UKMC 3: BuyHUD asks... Question: Why is Slobodan allowed to continue leading this country to ruin. How is he benefiting the Serbian people? OTSvetlana: That is a question many people ... in Serbia would like to ask the State Deparment on the United States because we who are old enough to remember we remember very well that Milosevic would never have appeared in the political arena of the former Yugoslavia without their direct support. UKMC 3: MOREA60 asks... Question: why cant Serbs and albainians get along and share the powers of goverment, look at us we have every kind of ethnic race, color,and religion and for the most part get along OTSvetlana: I am old enough to remember the Kennedy period...and I am old enough to remember racial segregation.I would not preach democracy to anyone if I were American... Also, although there has always been some kind of intolerance in Kosovo... between Albanians and the rest of the population for centuries before the US and Islamic fundamentalists decided to support financially and with weapons the KLA we had never witnessed killings in Kosovo before. UKMC 3: GHarris616 picks up on your earlier answer about the Kosovo refugees, who have been telling journalists and aid workers that they were ordered to leave their homes by Serb police (in fact one of them was live online with us here yesterday saying exactly this) UKMC 3: So the question from GHArris616 is... Question: are you saying then that all those ethnic albaniens are lying with there stories OTSvetlana: No I don't necessarily think they are lying...in my personal knowledge, I know of some such cases...but we are talking about a country in a war...and the fact is that an enormous number of radio locators and people who were assiting NATO were noticed in Kosovo and elsewhere so ...professionally every police force or army in the world would try...to clear the area in order to prevent such action. UKMC 3: Welcome to anyone who has joined in the last few minutes. We are talking to a Serb in Belgrade - we had the chance of this so we seized it rather than talk again to John West in Macedonia, who has been online with us for the last four days. OTSvetlana: What I would like to say is that NATO could have expected and Predicted such developments before they started their action..it is something in the military logic and in that case it seems to be that NATO deliberately risked lives of the Kosovo population as a whole.There is an opinion that can be heard here in Serbia that the West for some reason wanted to eliminate Albanians from the area and uses Serbs as the executor. UKMC 3: BeeLike has a question about the media in Yugoslavia... Question: As a jounalist do you have the freedom to print anything which does not support Milosevic and the Serbs? OTSvetlana: I am not actively reporting now... but independent daily newspapers do print in Belgrade these days... I don't see that they are under more severe conditions now than they were before. I haven't noticed a difference as a professional.The fact is that b92 radio does not exist any more, but on the other hand it is also a fact that those media that have been seen as most pro-regime in the past, have become much better since the bombing started UKMC 3: (B92 was the successful independent radio station in Belgrade) ... for one reason....they don't have to invent enemies any more,now they can be objective because the real enemy does exist. UKMC 3: DRoper3562 has a question about the efforts to reach a peace deal before the bombing which ended with an agreement on autonomy for Kosovo which was signed by the ethnic Albanians but rejected by Serbia. Question: Why was Serbia unwilling to reach a diplomatic solution? OTSvetlana: I wouldn't say Serbia was unwilling.The fact is that the international community decided to impose such conditions on Serbia so that in advance everyone knew were unacceptable.My conclusion would be that a decision to start bombing had been made much before the Paris conference. UKMC 3: Jpf1286 asks...In your opinion, do you think the bombs are being effective in fighting this "war"? OTSvetlana: I don't think that actions like this can bring any positive solutions for anyone. It is not in the mentality of Serbian people to act in a way the West expects. They will resist and everyone is just angry now. UKMC 3: KVISF1 asks... Question: Is your suggestion that NATO has been tricked into bombing by clever fake atrocities? OTSvetlana: I would never generalise - but a part of the whole framework of this could be called a set-up. UKMC 3: TWeathe749 asks... Question: What alternative solution would Svetlana have suggested for the problems in Kosovo? OTSvetlana: I would have suggested dialogue locally ...with no international interfering and no financial or weapon support to any of the sides in this conlfict. Promises that the West made to some participants in the Kosovo Albanian political arena substantially changed the very being of the Kosovo Albanian ethnic existence. and political attitude. UKMC 3: JSmith6839 asks... Have any interviews with the Kosovo refugees been shown in Serbia? OTSvetlana: Yes. There are refugees from Kosovo who in spite of everyone's expectation have chosen to come to Serbia instead of going in other directions because what is seen as just ethnic intolerance between Albanians and Serbs is over exaggerated and simplified.Almost everyone I know has friends and colleagues in Pristina and Tirana who are Albanians. UKMC 3: Here's another question from JSmith6839... (I'm trying to be fair in sharing out the questions because there are many more than there is time to answer but this one's a good one... Question: Why do Serbs feel Kosovo belongs to them when only 10% of the country is Serbian??? OTSvetlana: The current demographic situation is a result of several quite recent political decisions made after the second World War.Firstly, during the war udner Italian occupation Albanians sided with the occupying forces so Serbs and Montenegrans that lived in Kosovo had to leave. After the war, the Communist regime of Tito wanted to please the Albanian population and brought in a rule a law that prohibited Serbs and Montenegrans from coming back to their estates.That changed the demographic picture a lot. OTSvetlana: Another aspect is that when you judge to which country some territory belongs you usually look at churches...and if you see that one religious community is present on some territory ...that is the best possible proof of the long term existence of that community.That principle was used more than anything after the First World War. UKMC 3: Svetlana, lots of people are asking questions about your independence as a journalist. For instance, there's this one from HeadPie... UKMC 3: If you, Svetlana, said anything against Milosevic would you fear for your personal safety? OTSvetlana: You can be an independent journalist in Belgrade and what I told an American journalist only ten days ago is that the American free press has to learn a lot from Belgrade's independent journalists.Just to remind you, several years ago while we had war in former Yugoslavia and Sarajevo being bombed...me and my friends in Belgrade we could write and publish here in Belgrade in independent media...our understanding and personal opinions of what was going on we could criticise the regime openly and nothing dramatic happened to any of us. That doesn't mean that we are in danger now...the future is a mystery for us now... we don't know what will come. UKMC 3: Here's a practical question from MiriamLevy...Then we've time for maybe one more question UKMC 3: Miriam's question is Question: If NATO has blown away everything where are you getting electric for this? OTSvetlana: I never said...that NATO had blown EVERYTHING away.In some parts of this country people do not have electricity and do not have fresh water any more. Some towns don't have phone lines for the last five days now and typically those towns were opposition strongholds which makes the NATO action even less understandable to anyone. UKMC 3: Last question... UKMC 3: PLHill106 asks... The political history is subject to debate. The current Serbian treatment of the Kosovans is not acceptable irrespective of that debate. Do you not agree? OTSvetlana: I can just repeat that no one was treated that badly before the armed rebellion by the Albanians started up on the other hand...the fact is that in the seventies when Kosovo had the best possible constitution and more human rights than any ethnic minority in the world when a large part of the Federal budget was going into Kosovo with no further questions, even then Albanian politicians were not satisfied and planned openly the Big Albania which is an old concept not a new one. UKMC 3: Thank you very much, Svetlana for talking to us. And that you very much to everybody for taking part. We had way more questions than there was time to answer. But I hope you found it interesting...we spoke online to a Kosovo Albanian refugee last night, and tonight to a Serb journalist in Belgrade, Svetlana Djuric. You can read Out There News's special reporting on the war over Kosovo at Keyword OUTTHERE and keep up with all the latest news at Keyword NEWS. Thanks and bi to all. OTSvetlana: Bye to all. OnlineHost: Copyright 1999 America Online, Inc | ||||||||