L'anomalia di Mitrovica

[Coordinamento Romano per la Jugoslavia <crj@sigmasrl.it>]

L'ANOMALIA DI MITROVICA, ULTIMA CITTA'
"MULTIETNICA" DEL "KOSSOVA"

Giriamo in lista un nuovo contributo apparso sul sito "Emperors
Clothes", che da molti mesi ormai riporta le analisi piu' brillanti e
significative sulla situazione in Jugoslavia e sulla disinformazione a
riguardo vigente nei paesi occidentali.

Nel contributo - che purtroppo e' ancora una volta in lingua inglese:
non riusciamo a tradurre tutto il materiale che accumuliamo, ma se
qualcuno fosse disponibile ad aiutarci ce lo faccia sapere - si spiegano
le ragioni della continua tensione e degli scontri nella citta' di
Mitrovica, a pochi chilometri dalla zona mineraria piu' ricca della RF
di Jugoslavia. Dopo una serie di innumerevoli attentati, comprese bombe
sulle linee ferroviarie e missili sparati contro gli autobus, da qualche
giorno si verificano persino sparatorie tra irredentisti albanesi da una
parte e soldati delle truppe occupanti (essenzialmente francesi, e non
per caso) dall'altra. Che questi episodi continuino, ccme gli attentati
e le violenze a danno della popolazione ortodossa in tutta la provincia,
ed anzi aumentino in presenza della KFOR (cioe' della NATO) appare
strano agli ingenui... Meno strano e' per chi conosce i rapporti
strutturali tra dirigenza UCK (oggi "Corpo di Protezione del Kosovo") e
strutture militari della NATO (specialmente i servizi segreti USA,
tedeschi e britannici), dei quali abbiamo avuto tante volte occasione di
parlare.

L'anomalia di Mitrovica consiste nell'esistenza di un settore
settentrionale, dove insieme alla popolazione serba vivono altre
nazionalita' ed anche tanti albanesi che non hanno mai avuto problemi
con i vicini di casa... Oggi questi ultimi sono bersaglio dell'UCK
insieme ai serbi. Accrescere la tensione serve da una parte a spingere
questa popolazione non secessionista ad andarsene, dall'altra a
giustificare la presenza continua, e magari in forze sempre maggiori,
delle truppe KFOR.
Questa situazione e' trattata spesso in maniera insufficiente sui media,
talvolta i fatti vengono semplicemente capovolti. Ci capita di ascoltare
o di leggere che "gli albanesi del settore nord di Mitrovica hanno
paura" perche' "sono soggetti a minacce e violenze" e "chiedono aiuto".
Naturalmente, la aggressione di UCK e NATO contro la Repubblica Federale
di Jugoslavia, che ha avuto il suo culmine con i bombardamenti della
scorsa primavera, ha determinato ulteriori difficolta' nella convivenza
tra nazionalita' diverse, ed episodi di violenza o ritorsione avvengono
in entrambi i campi; tuttavia, solo un esercizio di estrema malafede
consente di equiparare quello che sta succedendo ormai da giugno 1999
(il repulisti della provincia da parte degli alleati UCK e KFOR a danno
di tutta la popolazione jugoslavista, non solo serba) con pochi episodi
di segno opposto, a danno di albanesi. Comunque, ormai anche i sassi di
Campo dei Merli hanno capito che la menzogna e' uno strumento di guerra,
e che fino alla ulteriore frantumazione della Repubblica Federale di
Jugoslavia, la guerra non sara' finita.   CRJ


---


WHY IS THE KLA SHOOTING AT KFOR? by Nebojsa Malic, Max Sinclair and Jared
Israel (2-17-00)

www.tenc.net [emperors-clothes

What is happening in Mitrovica?

Last weekend the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) launched coordinated attacks
on KFOR troops in this northern Kosovo town.

You remember the KLA. According to KFOR (NATO in Kosovo) it has ceased to
exist. KFOR and the UN bureaucrats achieved this miracle by allowing the
KLA thugs to be Kosovo's police force and government. New title, new
uniform and voila! - new man.

The regulation targets for KLA snipers have been Serbs, Roma ("Gypsies")
Gorani (Slavic Muslims) Turks, non-KLA Albanians and Jews. But last weekend
the snipers were shooting at NATO. Why? The KLA and other secessionists
have been NATO's protégés and wards since the late 1980s. Do they shoot
their Masters?

At first glance, the shooting appears to have unhinged the leaders of the
NATO establishment. Or perhaps not. Perhaps these gentlemen have simply
chosen to lie.

AN ISLAND OF MULTIETHNIC LIFE

Under NATO occupation, most potential opponents of the KLA have been driven
from Kosovo. But in northern Mitrovica, thousands remain in their ancestral
homes. Reinforced by a flood of anti-KLA refugees from elsewhere in Kosovo,
the forces of the old Kosovo, that is of normal, multiethnic life, have
been holding their own.

The KLA has no will to fight when people defend themselves. Hence they have
chosen to avoid a frontal assault on northern Mitrovica. Instead, last
weekend, KLA operatives staged a provocation. They shot at French KFOR
troops from positions on the non-KLA (that is, northern) side of the Ibar
River, as if to make it appear that the shooting was the work of Serbs. The
KLA propaganda machine then kicked in with claims that hundreds of
Albanians had been "ethnically cleansed" from the north.

Based on public statements by KLA leader Hacim Thaqi, the attacks were not
the work of some rogue faction; Thaqi, who is closely allied with the U.S.
military machine, warned that if the secessionists didn't get what they
wanted, more and worse attacks would follow.

The KLA is shooting at KFOR? As if that weren't unusual enough, KFOR shot
back, killing one KLA sniper. Almost fifty more KLA types were arrested.
KFOR troops fired warning shots to stop KLA supporters from crossing the
Ibar.

Meanwhile the UN actually contradicted and discredited the "ethnic Albanian
[read: KLA] human rights center" by saying that not one ethnic Albanian had
registered as expelled from northern Mitrovica last week.

What is going on?

THE NEW MATH: ONE PLUS ZERO EQUALS...2

Commenting on last weekend's firefight, State Department spokesman James
Rubin blamed "both ethnic Albanians and Serbs for incidents in the city."
[AP, U.S. Condemns Violence in Kosovo, February 14

Rubin admitted that the snipers were Albanian (read: KLA) yet he concluded
that: "It should be very clear that the confrontation is coming from both
sides." In a dazzling display of Slobophobia, Rubin added:
"We need to impress upon the parties their responsibility to deal with the
hatreds and animosities that have been built up" and stoked by Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic in Belgrade.

"When things go bad, he feels like he had a good day," said Rubin. [AP, 2/14/00

So according to the State Department, when Albanian secessionists shoot at
KFOR the blame lies with Milosevich. Hmmm. Is this like original sin?

{James Rubin recently announced his resignation. Hopefully soon.}

Rubin was not the only American who presented the situation in Mitrovica in
a totally illogical fashion, whether intentionally or due to some
unfortunate disability. In Tuesday’s New York Times, he was joined by
Carlotta Gall, a reporter with years of experience portraying the KLA
snakes in a flattering light.

In her article "Kosovo Peacekeepers Warn That Extremists ‘Want Peace to
Fail’", NY Times, Feb. 15, 2000, Gall blamed faceless "extremists" for the
fighting. Given the Times' constant attacks on Serbs, readers would find it
easy to deduce whom Gall means. She cited the fears of senior UN and KFOR
officials that "ethnic relations will be poisoned permanently."

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE) "General de Saqui de Sannes, [French commanding
officer] who has blamed the violence on both sides, said individuals were
instigating attacks purposely to escalate the violence and to destroy the
last multiethnic town in Kosovo where Serbs and Albanians are still living
side by side, if uneasily.

'"There are extremists who want the peace to fail,' he said in an interview
at his headquarters. While the violence consists of 'isolated acts,' he
said, the strategy is to escalate tensions and intolerance. 'I am worried
that we may be in the process of an escalation of intolerance,' he said.

'"Some Albanians have wanted to push the Serbs in northern Mitrovica and
beyond out of Kosovo, and some Serbs have wanted to do the opposite—to push
the Albanians remaining among them south of the Ibar river, which divides
Mitrovica, in order to create a pure Serbian area in northern Kosovo,' he
said. 'The people are hostages to this,' he said." (NY Times, Feb. 15,
2000) (END OF EXCERPT)

Has Gen. de Sannes been on another planet? Back on Planet Earth, it's too
late for "an escalation of intolerance": approximately 350,000
non-Albanians and anti-KLA Albanians have already been forced out of Kosovo
by KLA terror. Were all these people victims of "isolated" incidents? And
how does Albanians firing on KFOR constitute Serbs trying to create an
ethnically pure zone? And if they are trying to create such a zone, how
come the UN says no Albanian - not one - has been forced out of the
Northern side of town?

And what does "ethnic relations" have to do with KLA snipers shooting at
KFOR anyway?

This is all rather dizzying.

Is the man deranged? Or is there method in his madness?

NEVER GIVE A SERB AN EVEN BREAK

Mitrovica is the last multiethnic town in Kosovo for two reasons: the Serbs
and other anti-secessionists have fought eviction and the French troops
have actually held the KLA in check. This as opposed to what's happened in
areas under US, British and Dutch control. For example, British troops
marched into Pristina alongside the KLA and oversaw the eviction of
literally thousands of non-secessionist residents. (See Note 1). Similarly,
Dutch troops have given the KLA free reign to terrorize and control
Orahovac. (Note 2)

Clearly, if the Serbs and their allies would just leave Mitrovica, peace
would follow: no Serbs = no ethnic violence. Are Serbs then to blame
because their very existence frustrates and provokes a faction of Albanians
beyond endurance?

Along these lines, UN high official Mr. Marcone noted that although Monday
was a "bad day for the Albanians," some Serbs will soon be arrested as
well. For what? Since KFOR admits the violence derives entirely from the
KLA side, is the unnamed crime for which the Serbs are to be punished
existential:
"One is a Serb; one exists; therefore, one is bad"?

Through the fog of misleading writing that is Ms. Gall's hallmark, some
light filters. Consider the following:
(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE) "…Thousands flocked today to the burial of the one
man killed by French troops during the fighting Sunday.

"Avni Haradinaj, 35, a former guerrilla fighter of the Kosovo Liberation
Army and a local hero, was buried with full honors by his former comrades
in arms. His coffin, draped in the red Albanian flag, was carried up the
hill to the edge of a wood outside the city, through a crowd of some 3,000
mourners.

"The Albanian mayor of Mitrovica, Bajram Rexhepi, who said he had been a
good friend of the dead man, said Mr. Haradinaj was unarmed when he was
shot by French soldiers and was in Mitrovica visiting his sisters. "There
were four people with him and they explained that he had no weapon at the
moment he was killed," he said.

"General de Saqui de Sannes insisted that Mr. Haradinaj was armed and was
shooting at the soldiers when he was shot.

"The general tried to reassure the Albanians of French neutrality. 'If we
were shot at by Albanians, it is difficult to arrest Serbs,' he said."
(ibid.)  (END OF EXCERPT)

The French General is apologetic: he wishes to arrest Serbs, alas they
aren't doing the shooting. Then why the apology?

WHY WOULD A FRENCH GENERAL APOLOGIZE TO TERRORISTS WHO ARE TRYING TO KILL
HIS TROOPS?

Therein lies the question. In this world it is customary for people to kiss
up to those more powerful than they. But why is this General currying favor
with...the KLA, an organization which never won a battle against the
Yugoslav Army, an organization which is only good at terrorizing old
people, shooting farmers from the woods, ransacking apartment buildings and
driving out school teachers and electrical engineers?

Perhaps the General isn't really bowing before the KLA. But if he isn't
really bowing before the KLA, then before whom is he bowing?

Let's assemble some facts, and let's think it over.

1) Last weekend's fighting was clearly an organized KLA operation. While
snipers shot at KFOR their compatriots tried to cross the Ibar River.
Forty-five Albanians were arrested, all men of fighting age. The KLA sniper
whom the French troops shot was A. Haradinaj, age 35. Was he one of Ramush
Haradinaj's five brothers? Ramush Haradinaj is a deputy of KLA boss Hacim
Thaqi in the Kosovo Peace Corps, set up by…KFOR.

2) On Tuesday, Feb. 15, French KFOR troops found an ambulance abandoned
near a checkpoint in south Mitrovica, i.e. the KLA side of the Ibar. In it
was a huge stash of deadly weapons.

"Among the stash were 14 anti-tank rocket launchers, more than 180
high-explosive grenades, and more than 3,000 cartridges for guns," (Bergen
County Record, Feb. 16, 2000, from various wire services)

The ambulance had been donated by an Italian aid organization (Cooperazione
e Sviluppo) to a KLA-controlled town.

3) In a rather surprising move, none less then Gen. Henry H. Shelton,
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, made a statement about the ambulance.

(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE) "[Gen. Shelton] said today in Washington that the
incident underscored the difficulty faced by the NATO-led Kosovo
peacekeeping force in stopping arms from entering the province illegally.

"Getting weapons in (illegally) is no hard task," Shelton said. "You've got
a fairly porous border. You've got everything from backpacks to mules that
can bring in weapons, but you've got Lord knows how many thousands of
weapons that may have been cached in the local area as (the Serbs) pulled
out of there." (AP Online Feb. 15, 2000)  (END OF EXCERPT)

Is General Shelton suffering from some malfunction? First of all, the
administrative border between the Province of Kosovo (legally part of
Serbia) and inner Serbia is quite well policed by Yugoslav troops. The
truly porous border is between Kosovo and KLA-infested northern Albania;
that border is porous precisely because Yugoslav border guards were forced
to depart under the June peace agreement. So why is Shelton, who is
responsible for the absence of border guards, going on about Serbian
weapons?

Indeed, why is he talking about borders and arms caches at all? A KLA
ambulance full of tactical weapons just got seized on its way to arm KLA
forces attacking French troops who are being shot by the KLA. The KLA are
American proxies. Shouldn't Shelton use this opportunity to say to his
proxies: "We backed you up until now but if you pick on the French troops
and try to destroy a multiethnic community, you're through!"? He does not.
Instead he talks wistfully about the difficulties of stopping illegal arms;
he laments; he, the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff laments; he suffers
ennui; he speaks wistfully of mules and the impossibility of trying to stop
the flow of arms as if it were arms and not the men, the KLA men, who were
shooting at those French troops.

4) The ambulance full of weapons was driving towards Mitrovica from the
south, from a KLA controlled town. The deadliest weapon in that ambulance
was a six-shot grenade launcher along with 180 high-explosive grenades,
usable with devastating effect against, let us say, French troops guarding
a bridge. That weapon did not come from hidden caches of Serbian weapons.
It is state of the art. And as the Agence France Presse (but NOT the
American Associated Press or British Reuters!) pointed out:
(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE) "Police intercepted a shipment of arms hidden in an
ambulance heading for Mitrovica, including a US-made "street sweeper"
grenade launcher..." (AFP, Feb. 156, 2000)  (END OF EXCERPT)

U.S.-made.

5) Meanwhile, US-made allies have joined the fray. Dutch and special
British troops, the so-called Royal Green Jackets previously assigned to
Ulster, arrived in Mitrovica, ostensibly to back up the French. The English
and Dutch governments are the main US ally in Europe, often opposed by
France and Germany. For example, when Greece, Italy and Germany attempted
to relax the sanctions that have kept heating fuel out of Serbia in this
harshest of winters, the Dutch and British delegates, acting on orders of
the State department, vetoed the measure. (Note 3)

Perhaps "US ally" is a mistaken way to describe the British, and especially
the Dutch governments. A more accurate term might be "US servants." The US
elite does not think along egalitarian lines. By way of illustration,
consider this comment made at a Senate hearing by Michael Short, the US
General who ran NATO's bombing campaign against the Serbs. Referring to the
difference in status between the U.S. and "allied" forces, Short testified
that:
(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE) "Our allies recognize that. They recognize that they
are small dogs, but they want to have a seat at the table. I would use the
Dutch as the prime example. A small air force, a proud air force, a
competent air force. They have bought their own tankers. They have two
modified DC-10s with the Israeli system in the front with mirrors to allow
them to refuel their own airplanes. They have lantern pods. You'll remember
on the first night of the war, a Dutch F-16 shot down a MiG-29? A small air
force, but a seat at the table.

"And I knew I could send the Dutch anyplace I had to send them and they'd
salute and say, 'Yes, Boss, we'll be there.' "(Gen. Michael Short,
testifying at the Oct 21, 1999 Senate Military Hearings)  (END OF EXCERPT)

6) While Gen. Shelton was avoiding any criticism of his dear KLA, the
leader of that non-existent organization, Hacim Thaqi, made his position on
the KLA-French conflict perfectly clear. Here's Thaqi:
(EXCERPT BEGINS HERE) "Hasidim Thaqi, co-chairman of Kosovo's Temporary
Administrative Council,
also told Koha Jone newspaper that French troops of the NATO-led KFOR
peacekeeping force must shoulder some blame for the gun battles that
erupted on Sunday because they had allowed Serbs to control half of the
town.

'"It is paramount the (U.N.) institutions be more active to solve the
situation in Mitrovica otherwise they will have to face bigger problems,''
said Thaqi, a former leader of the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas.

'"`I also cannot exclude that such developments could spread to other parts
of Kosovo,'' he went on.

"Fighting in Serb-dominated northern Mitrovica drew in Serbs, ethnic
Albanians and KFOR troops. Two French peacekeepers were wounded by sniper
fire and one ethnic Albanian -- identified by KFOR as a sniper -- was shot
dead by KFOR troops.

"Thaqi accused international peacekeepers of doing a '`weak job in
Mitrovica and allowing terrorist groups and Belgrade institutions to
function freely there.'' '

''These phenomena should be eliminated in order to solve the problem of the
city as soon as possible,'' he added." ( Feb 15 ,2000, AFP) (EXCERPT ENDS
HERE)

Conclusion

At first glance the KLA attacks on KFOR seem crazy, suicidal. But the KLA
has a history of carrying out apparently crazy actions which are not really
crazy at all but which are coordinated with covert operations by NATO,
especially the US.

In this case, we think the KLA is acting as a proxy for the US which cannot
itself attack French KFOR troops. The US (and its British and Dutch
servants) is engaged in a struggle with the French and German elites - that
is, with Europe. The US Empire is trying to consolidate its strength in
Kosovo to prepare for further attacks on Yugoslavia, with important
geopolitical goals. Basically what is at stake here is a) gaining control
of the formerly Socialist East and b) preventing a unified and effectively
powerful Europe (i.e., competition) from emerging.

To this end, one US goal is to put control of all Kosovo in the hands of
the KLA, its proxy. The French have been resisting this - not out of any
love of justice, but because the French elite sees the US as a serious
menace. Hence the KLA attacks, the "reinforcement" by US servant troops,
the official endorsement of the attacks by Thaqi, with its threat of more
unless the French let the KLA take over northern Mitrovica and get rid of
the Serbian terrorists (for which read: multiethnic society), the statement
by Gen. Shelton which, by not denouncing the KLA made it clear to the
French that the US supports the attacks (though of course not publicly) and
finally, the weird statement by Gen. de Saqui de Sannes. At least now we
can solve the puzzle: why was the General simultaneously resisting the
KLA's aggressive stance and at the same time kissing up to the KLA? The
answer is: he wasn't simultaneously resisting the KLA's aggressive stance
and kissing up to the KLA. He was simultaneously resisting and kissing the
ass of the USA.
And after all, isn't that what the French elite always does?

*****

NOTES

Note 1 - For an eye-witness account of British complicity in the KLA
rape of
Pristina this past July, see the interview with Cedda Prlincevic. Mr.
Prlincevic was the chief archivist of Kosovo and President of the Jewish
Community in Pristina. Click on Driven From Kosovo
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/prlincevic.htm

Note 2 - The Dutch have performed shockingly in Orahovac, where they
have
brought sheer terror to the Serbian and Roma ("Gypsy") communities.
Emperors-Clothes has run a number of articles on this subject. In
chronological order:

Save the Families: the Women of Orahovac Speak
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/misc/savethe.htm

The Women of Orahovac Answer the Colonel
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/trouw.htm

'Can children be war criminals?' Interview in a Dutch newspaper, Trouw.
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/can.htm

'Time is so Short' - an Interview with Simca Kazazic
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/simca.htm

Note 3 - Concerning the Dutch & British government's shameful veto of a
measure intended to alleviate Serbian suffering this winter, see
Europeans
Bow to U.S. Pressure, Extend Yugoslav Sanctions
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/Johnstone/monsters.htm

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