Kosovo and
the Second Cold War
Europe was extremely close to a major war. Did the
allies know? Who would have made the decision? What would
we, the citizens of NATO countries, have been told? Was
Europe's security and the existence of NATO put at risk
because of the sufferings of Kosovo-Albanians? Because of
a genocide that did not take place? Or because we are
heading for a new
Cold War?
• NATO
moved very close to invasion in Kosovo
The United States, Britain, Germany, Italy, France,
Finland and Yugoslavia -- the United States came much
closer to a ground war in Europe than is commonly
understood. Read Steven Erlanger's absolutely
shocking analysis in New York Times.
And what shall we do with the trophy? The American
press is beginning to see that Kosovo was not all that
simple and easy...
• Kosovo
in limbo
This word picture is painted by the U.N.
officials---including Secretary General Kofi Annan---who
have taken on Kosovo as an international protectorate.
Annan makes no apologies for requiring the ethnic
Albanian majority of Kosovo to formally remain part of
Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia while living in virtual
independence. Contradictions abound...
Did you notice this in your local media?
• Russia's
saberrattling because of US intrusion and ballistic
missile plan
The real issue behind the display was that the United
States is discounting Russia in its foreign policy
decisions. U.S. meddling in Russia's sphere of influence,
the former Soviet Union, is posing real problems for the
Russians. Moscow is trying to remind the Americans of the
risks it will run if it places Russia in an untenable
position.
Kosovo and
cyberwar
So, why did they bomb that Chinese embassy in
Belgrade?
• The
embassy bombing continue to smolder
Bill Arkin challenges most hypotheses and brings new
materials, in Washington Post. "Through interviews with
officers in the air staff, at U.S. headquarters in Europe
and in Washington, I have been able to reconstruct the
attack. There was no plan to hit the Chinese Embassy. But
to some, high-level denials are themselves proof, and the
bombing is becoming another cover-up milestone for
Internet conspiracy junkies."
Is Kosovo indicative of the cyber-warfare that we
may see in the future
• Pentagon
refrained from all-out cyberwar against
Yugoslavia
The Pentagon's computer hackers had the theoretical
capacity to plunder Mr Milosevic's bank accounts or bring
Serbia's financial systems to a halt. But US defence
officials said the plans were shelved for fear of
committing war crimes - says the Guardian.
• Wesley
Clark suddenly thinks we might do without aerial
bombardment!
His testimony last month was the highest level of
endorsement so far given to the use of forms of
"cyberwar" which, their supporters argue, could have
stopped Serb ethnic cleansing faster and with far less
bloodshed. Such a war would have used "offensive hacking"
against Belgrade's computers and Mr Milosevic's bank
account, and jammed or subverted his communications and
propaganda.
We are really learning the lessons from the 20th
century! The brave new war world is here...
• Non-lethal
or not so lethal
warfare
Sound generators, which cause disorientation,
vomiting and defecation; "human capture nets" laced with
chemical irritant or electrified; foam guns; blinding
lasers; and "thermal guns", which incapacitate through a
wall by raising body temperatures to 42C.
Nonviolence and
peace
Here is a British labour MP with civil courage. An
inspiration for other European MPs?
• "Sanctions
against Iraq is a crime"
The Labour MP George Galloway has described the UN
sanctions against Iraq as "one of the great crimes of the
20th century." Mr Galloway, who has arrived in Baghdad at
the end of a 9,300 mile (15,000 km) trip by double-decker
bus from London, said he had come because the UK was
deeply implicated in the action - as reported by BBC.
May we recommend that you consider the peace
manifesto for the 21st century drafted by Nobel Peace
laureates?
• Manifesto
2000 For a Culture of Peace and
Non-Violence
- sign it and help the UN - UNESCO - to reach 100 million
signatures.
Human rights - and
wrongs
Is this the reason for U.S. peace-making and
humanitarian interventions?
• America's
need for (other people's) oil
Do the dirty job elsewhere that you don't want done at
home. Al Gore supports this 'ecological' principle.
Americans do have a choice, but do they see it?
TFF recently featured Chris Black's devastating
critique of the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. Here is
another, earlier, one
• Law
enforcement threatened if transferred to unaccountable
bureaucrats
There is a long dispute about Operation Storm in Croatia
in 1995. The chief prosecutor seems to believe in the
powers the Tribunal has awarded itself - wrote John
Laughland some time ago in Sunday Times.
And there is more about this new world order power
instrument
• War
crimes apply to the United States
itself
- says Walter Rockler, a prosecutor at the Nuremberg War
Crimes Tribunal.
The most recent Hague Tribunal figures on the
killings in Kosovo - and on the killing that continues in
spite of NATO's presence.
• The
bodies found, so far, in
Kosovo
This Guardian article
from Nov 11 also offers insight on how the killing and
criminality continues - as much as during the war. If the
UN had been responsible for security and peacekeeping
with these results, world media would have called it a
failure. Now, it's NATO and they are not calling it
anything at all.
• Tyranny
of human rights
The Swiss attorney-general Carla Del Ponte, new chief
prosecutor of the Yugoslavia and Rwanda war crimes
tribunals, assumes the role of high priestess of human
rights, the secular religion for the millennium. She will
be responsible both for putting Milosevic and the rest
behind the bars and for healing the wounds of a troubled
world. Her job is to see that good vanquishes evil.
That's the theory, anyway. The reality is more
complicated - writes Kirsten Sellars.
As you know from an earlier Transnational WIRE, the
US is expanding its military expenditures to be three
times higher than the combined expenditures of Russia,
China and al the rogue states it can find. But there are
ever more
• People
living in poverty in the United States
More people than 35 years ago, now 17 per cent or 46
million live in poverty in the richest country on
earth....
WIRE Editor
Jan Oberg with TFF
Associates
