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U.S. Coup Aims to Install Puppet Regime in Yugoslavia

by Michel Chossudvosky and Jared Israel
www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]

Yesterday we wrote an article analyzing the situation in Yugoslavia. Before 
we could publish it, our analysis has been confirmed by events. We have 
confirmed from an unimpeachable source that members of the "democratic" 
opposition have been visited Belgrade residents, threatening to murder them 
if they voted in the runoff elections. Now there are reports of the burning 
of the Yugoslav parliament - where the government has a majority of seats - 
and the sacking of sections of Belgrade and murder of citizens who don't 
support the opposition. These measure are intended to bring a US puppet 
regime to power. 

The article follows. 

The evidence is mounting that the "Democratic" opposition strategy in 
Yugoslavia, worked out under the guidance of Washington and Bonn, is not to 
elect Mr. Kostunica President of Yugoslavia.. If it were, why wouldn't they 
gladly participate in runoff elections, given that Kostunica has an admitted 
10% lead.? One reason they don't want to participate is that most of the 
approximately 40% of the electorate which did not vote in round one would 
most likely vote against Kostunica in round two. 

But apart from that, the main reason is that the president of Yugoslavia has 
no power without a parliamentary majority. The elections gave the current 
government a clear majority in both houses. 

NATO's plan for Yugoslavia is to apply the most severe economic shock 
treatment which requires domination of the government. The shock therapy was 
admitted by Mr. Dinkic, chief economist for the opposition: 

"we are thinking of adopting... a shock therapy in some areas, and mild and 
gradual reforms in others," Dinkic told Beta. : Beta news agency, Belgrade, 
in Serbo-Croat 1828 gmt 26 Sep 00 posted by BBX Oct. 5, 2000) 

The same was stated in law HR1064, passed by the US House of Representatives 
a day after the elections. This law granted an additional 105 million to be 
shared between the pro-NATO government of Montenegro ($55 million US) and the 
leaders of the DOS ($50 million.) That money was released on an emergency 
basis - Oct 1. It was immediately wired to the DOS bank accounts in Budapest 
and then smuggled across the border in new US bills for immediate use. to 
destabilize Yugoslavia. 

The law ordered that the most draconian economic "reforms" be imposed on 
Yugoslavia, ordered the breakup of Serbia into separate min-states, ordered 
the imposition of complete "democratization", that is, adoption all measures 
demanded by the US and ordered the hunting down of all people whom NATO 
decides to accuse of being war criminals, 

The violent economic "adjustment" and political destruction mandated by 
HR1064 and outlined in the program of 'democratic" opposition itself are an 
attempt to crush Yugoslavia as a force capable of resisting US domination of 
the Balkans, to reduce it to an impoverished territory - a colony. . 

These measures cannot be implemented unless NATO has full control of the 
Yugoslav government including the army and police. (The other alternative, 
invading a Yugoslavia run by a hostile government, is politically unfeasible 
for NATO) . 

Therefore the DOS has used the charge of "election fraud" - endlessly 
repeated but never with any evidence - as an excuse to boycott the runoffs. 
In contrast, the fraud involved in the US paying hundreds of millions of 
dollars to the "democratic" opposition is never mentioned. This bribe money 
violates the electoral laws of every country. Using the veneer of protesting 
election fraud, the "democrats" are mobilizing all possible forces in an 
attempt to seize power by force. These include pro-fascist Croatians and 
pro-KLA Albanians who are the hard core supporters of the pro-NATO Djukanovic 
government in Montenegro, they include , secessionists from the Serbian 
province of Vojvodina and southern Serbia, young people who have never worked 
and who are being fed trickles of cash from the several hundred million 
dollars the US has pumped into opposition hands, people coerced by superiors 
at work or by school headmasters to demonstrate, people bribed by a taste of 
the vast sums of money the US has pumped into Yugoslavia especially in the 
past two weeks, and people who have been fooled by the massive, US funded 
campaign, by "independent" media, public relations firms and election 
pollsters, into believing that their falling living standards, caused by 
sanctions just as severe as those imposed on Iraq, are the "fault of one man 
- Milosevich" and that the US-backed opposition will bring prosperity. In 
fact they would bring the prosperity of the grave. 

Because the truth is that countries like Bulgaria and Russia which have 
swallowed the "democratic " bait are far poorer than Yugoslavia - even though 
they are not suffering from sanctions. and were not yet bombed 

The scenario is much like what occurred in Chile in 1973.. There was the same 
sort of disruption of transportation and essential services including 
electricity. There was the same effort to create the appearance of a majority 
movement against Chilean Pres. Allende.. Events were staged which a captive 
media misdescribed as popular protest, giving ordinary people the impression 
that Allende was about to fall. At the same time, the CIA-directed plan 
deprived the people of basic necessities, causing real unrest. In Yugoslavia, 
the disruption of the supply of essential commodities started before the 
election with a US-instigated rise in the price of bread 

Under cover of disruption and "popular protest: the CIA overthrew President 
Salvador Allende and installed a pro-US military junta headed by General 
Augusto Pinochet. 

The strikes which crippled transport and food distribution in Chile were 
funded by the CIA. The same is being attempted right now in Yugoslavia. Vast 
sums of US tax payers money has been poured into opposition coffers in 
Serbia. We know of $182 million. But this is only what is officially 
admitted. What about CIA money, which the New York Times says is going into 
Serbia "in suitcases full of cash"? What about money from the Soros 
Foundation and other CIA-connected "charities"? This money is being used to 
finance the miners' strike and to lure young people into the Western-created 
group Otpor by giving them money and trinkets, like cellular phones. . 

Of course, many Yugoslav people are disgruntled. one miner told the 'NY 
Times': "I used to make $1500 a month. Now I make $80." Dishonest forces put 
the blame for this on the government that is resisting US control. In fact, 
the problem started because in 1989 a World Bank plan, overseen by a leading 
member of one of the current 'democratic' opposition groups, closed over a 
thousand Yugoslav business, devastating the economy. The wars and sanctions, 
whose fault lies with the US and Germany, have further hurt the economy. The 
Yugoslav government, routinely accused of being dictatorial, has tolerated 
the creation of an immense Fifth Column in Serbia by the US government, which 
has poured m8llions into the funding and training of what tare falsely called 
"civil society" organizations. These organizations, funded through the 
National Endowment for Democracy, Freedom House, the USIA, the CIA and the 
Soros Foundation, among others, pay thousands of people in Serbia and 
maintain and entire "alternate" media with the latest equipment and high 
salaries. This media then uses the problem caused by the US to sow discontent 
among anyone who is susceptible. 

The US effort to destroy Yugoslavia goes back to 1984. A U.S. National 
Security Decision Directive NSDD133 entitled "United States Policy Toward 
Yugoslavia. Labeled SECRET Sensitive has recently been de-classified. It is a 
prescription for destroying Yugoslavia as an economic and political entity. 

Since the elections on 24 September, the Democratic opposition has met with 
NATO officials in Sofia, Bulgaria. NATO Assistant Secretary General Paul 
Klaiber was in Sofia and Bucharest for high level discussions on security 
issues resulting from the elections. Barely reported in the media, an IMF 
donors' conference was held behind closed doors, Two leading "democratic" 
representatives presented their so-called "Letter of Intent", a plan for 
imposing harsh economic measure on Yugoslavia, to their IMF and World Bank 
leaders. And on the 4th of October, the Stability Pact for Southeastern 
Europe was meeting under its so-called "Title III" which pertains to 
"security issues." The elections and "transition" in Yugoslavia were on the 
agenda. The press reports do not confirm that the two "democratic: 
representatives stayed for these meetings. We suspect they did.. 

The ploy being employed now is to create chaos while dangling promises of 
money and peace, instigate whatever elements - children ignorant of politics 
and lured by money, secessionist elements, fascists, people under compulsion 
from superiors - along with infiltrators from NATO armed forces disguised as 
rebellious youths, to terrorize Yugoslav loyalists and create the impression 
of popular revolt. Already we have learned that DOS activists are going 
around Belgrade, threatening death to anyone who votes in the Sunday 
elections. Further provocation may occur at any time. These "democrats" aim 
to provide Washington and NATO with a pretext to intervene as "peacekeepers" 
as they did in Bosnia. 

In the meantime, not only are NATO war ships in the Adriatic, but foreign 
troops are already on Yugoslav soil. British SAS special forces are training 
paramilitary police in Montenegro to assassinate Yugoslav army officer,. 
Money is being channeled to finance these groups.. 

What we are witnessing is nothing less than an attempt to install a 
fascist-like government in Yugoslavia, to turn all of Yugoslavia into Kosovo. 
Yugoslavia has stood up to the biggest bully in history, the US government. 
Now it is time for all who oppose the creation of US/German dominated world 
empire to stand up for Yugoslavia. 

www.tenc.net
[Emperor's Clothes]

---


>
> Les liaisons dangereuses
> de Monsieur Kostunica
>
>
> «Cette fois, j'ai voté Kostunica, car il est honnête. Mais je n'aime pas
> les gens autour de lui, et j'espère qu'il saura les maîtriser», m'a dit
> un vieux professeur, ce dimanche 24 septembre, dans un bureau de vote de
> Belgrade, où j'étais invité comme observateur international. Beaucoup
> m'ont dit la même chose. Qui donc est derrière Kostunica?
>
> MICHEL COLLON
>
> Face à Milosevic , incarnant la résistance à l'Otan, les dirigeants
> habituels de l'opposition auraient certainement perdu s'ils s'étaient
> présentés. Car Draskovic avait baisé la main de Madeleine Albright (USA)
> en pleine guerre et Djindjic avait fui en Allemagne. Or, la grande
> majorité des Yougoslaves reste farouchement attachée à l'indépendance du
> pays.
>  L'habileté de la nouvelle stratégie a consisté à présenter un homme
> 'neuf', Kostunica, qui multiplie les déclarations 'critiques' à l'égard
> des Etats-Unis et de l'Otan. Mais son programme  est celui du G-17 (voir
> page 2), un groupe d'économistes yougoslaves  très à droite:
> 1. Introduction du deutsche mark comme monnaie nationale! 2. Forte
> réduction du budget militaire, ce qui priverait le pays des moyens de se
> défendre contre de nouvelles agressions. 3. Alignement sur les recettes
> anti-sociales du Fonds Monétaire International. Après une année de
> sursis, la partie pauvre de la population serait privée du 'filet de
> sécurité sociale' qui lui a permis de survivre jusqu'à présent. Elle
> devrait acheter les marchandises aux prix régnant en Europe occidentale
> tout en disposant d'un pouvoir d'achat actuellement proche de bien des
> pays du tiers monde.
>
> Avec Kostunica, Djindjic et le FMI, la population serait-elle soulagée?
> Ces mêmes  réformes  ont déjà dévasté des pays comme la Bulgarie,
> l'Albanie ou la Roumanie. Un observateur roumain m'a confié: «On nous
> avait promis qu'après la chute de Ceaucescu, le capitalisme sans freins
> apporterait la prospérité. Mais, aujourd'hui, l'économie est en ruines.
> Nous avons ramassé dix milliards de dollars de dettes, mais on ne voit
> pas un seul investissement. Les bâtiments en cours de construction sous
> Ceaucescu ne sont toujours pas achevés, on ne crée pas de nouveaux
> logements, les jeunes sont forcés d'attendre que leurs parents meurent
> pour obtenir un appartement. Après avoir cédé à la mode de la
> consommation Coca Cola, McDonalds et Cie, ils se demandent: «Où vais-je
> trouver du travail pour survivre?»  Beaucoup devront émigrer.
> L'Allemagne vient d'offrir dix mille visas pour des jeunes qualifiés en
> informatique. Cet exode des cerveaux privera encore plus le pays de ses
> moyens de développement.»
> Beaucoup d'électeurs ont espéré qu'en changeant de dirigeants, ils
> seraient débarrassés des sanctions internationales étranglant leur pays.
> Mais la victoire de Kostunica leur apportera-t-elle réellement le
> soulagement et la stabilité?
> Sans doute de l'argent occidental irait dans certaines poches de ce
> pays. Le vrai chef de l'opposition, Zoran Djindjic - l'homme qui tire
> les ficelles de Kostunica - a reçu des millions de dollars pour faire le
> travail de Washington. Et une nouvelle classe d'hommes d'affaires
> trépigne d'impatience. Avec les multinationales, elle exige toutes
> libertés de mettre fin aux protections sociales. Pour exploiter à fond
> une main d'ouvre qualifiée et compétente. Elle voudrait  imposer une
> concurrence impitoyable entre travailleurs, les soumettre à  la peur du
> licenciement et du chômage , les obliger à travailler sans respecter la
> sécurité ni le repos de la nuit ou du week-end.
> Comme dans les pays dits 'avancés' où une grande partie des travailleurs
> se crève au boulot, de plus en plus stressés tandis que l'autre partie
> déprime au chômage. Voilà le sort qui attendrait le peuple yougoslave.
> Sans compter que la déréglementation chère au  'G-17' leur permettrait
> sûrement de jouir eux aussi de la maladie de la vache folle, de la
> dioxine ou d'autres pollutions...
>
> Dans le club des voleurs, il n'y a plus de place
> Une grande illusion domine actuellement la jeunesse yougoslave, trompée
> par  les promesses de l'Ouest. A juste titre, elle souhaite vivre mieux.
> Mais elle croit que si elle accepte les volontés des multinationales et
> des dirigeants occidentaux, la prospérité suivra.
> Mais d'où provient cette richesse des multinationales occidentales? Du
> fait qu'elles ne paient pratiquement pas les matières premières prises
> au tiers-monde. Et que dans tous les pays où elles vont exploiter des
> travailleurs, elles font tout pour maintenir les salaires au plus bas.
> C'est d'ailleurs une règle économique imposée par le système de la
> concurrence capitaliste : seul survit, celui qui exploite le plus fort.
> Partout donc, leur intérêt est de maintenir au plus bas les salaires et
> le niveau de vie général . Sinon, elles partent.
> Bref, si les sociétés des pays riches sont riches, c'est qu'elles volent
> les pays pauvres. Aussi quand elles promettent à un pays pauvre qu'en se
> soumettant, il pourra rejoindre le club des pays riches, c'est un
> mensonge. Cette promesse ne pourrait  être tenue: s'il n'y a plus
> d'exploités qui se font voler, il n'y aura plus d'exploiteurs qui
> s'enrichissent. La seule solution est un monde sans exploiteurs et sans
> exploités, un monde de réelle coopération internationale basée sur la
> solidarité.
>
> Colonisation ne signifie pas stabilité
> La colonisation de la Yougoslavie et des Balkans par l'Ouest
> n'apporterait pas la stabilité. Si les inégalités sociales et la misère
> augmentent, les peuples prendront conscience qu'ils ont été trompés, ils
> se révolteront pour regagner leur indépendance. Comme  déjà en Macédoine
> et en Roumanie où les élections devraient voir un retour de la gauche.
> Pour détourner les révoltes, les Etats-Unis et leurs amis essayeraient
> certainement à nouveau d'exciter des affrontements entre nationalités.
> Et si ça  ne suffit pas, on verra alors que les bases militaires de
> l'Otan ont pour fonction non seulement des objectifs stratégiques à
> l'encontre de la Russie, du pétrole du Caucase et du Moyen-Orient, mais
> aussi le rôle de réprimer les peuples des Balkans. L'Otan a soutenu les
> dictateurs fascistes Franco et Salazar, elle a mis en place la dictature
> des colonels grecs en 1967, puis celle des généraux turcs; elle
> n'hésiterait pas à recommencer. Mieux vaut ne pas introduire le loup
> dans la bergerie.
> La résistance est donc la seule voie possible pour assurer la paix et le
> développement social dans les Balkans. Milosevic a déclaré : "Si nous
> devenions une colonie, nous ne serions jamais libérés des sanctions
> (l'embargo), car être une colonie c'est la pire forme de sanctions. Si
> nous devenions une colonie, nous n'aurions aucune chance de
> développement, ni  à court, ni a long terme."
> Sur ce point en tout cas, on ne peut que lui donner raison.
>
>
>
> --
> Les "Editions Democrite" publient un mensuel en francais :
> > "Les dossiers du BIP" avec des traductions d'articles provenant de la
> > presse communiste(grecque, allemande, anglaise, turque, russe,
> espagnole,
> > portugaise...)sur des evenements qui interessent des lecteurs
> communistes.
> > Editions Democrite, 52, bld Roger Salengro, 93190 LIVRY-GARGAN, FRANCE
>
> > e-mail : democrite@starnet.fr
>

---

-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Oct. 12, 2000
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------

FACING THREATS AND BRIBES: WILL YUGOSLAVIA RESIST 
U.S.-BACKED COUNTER-REVOLUTION?

By Sara Flounders

The corporate media would like everyone to believe that an 
authentic, national popular movement independent of the U.S. 
and NATO is rising up against the Yugoslav government, and 
especially President Slobodan Milosevic. But to believe this 
would be a serious mistake.

That's because the media leave out that Washington and its 
European allies have subsidized this movement's leadership 
with huge sums of money, bolstered them with enormous 
political support, exhausted the Yugoslav population with 
war threats and sanctions, demonized Milosevic by spreading 
lies and false charges, and goaded the opposition to 
Milosevic to risk civil war.

The U.S. leaders don't just want to remove Milosevic, they 
want to smash Yugoslavia with a counter-revolution that 
overthrows whatever remains from the 1945 socialist 
revolution.

The opposition, though it led the first round of the 
presidential election by 49 percent to 39 percent, has as of 
Oct. 4 refused to participate in the runoff election 
scheduled for Oct. 8. Instead it is trying to force a 
confrontation with the government through strikes and 
demonstrations.

WASHINGTON TRIES TO BUY ELECTION

The U.S. government has admitted to authorizing $77 dollars 
to bankroll the opposition movement. On Sept. 25 the U.S. 
House of Representatives voted another $105 million to fund 
the "democracy movement" in Yugoslavia.

In comparison George W. Bush has raised $177 million to fund 
his presidential bid. Al Gore has raised $126 million. 
(Federal Election Commission data compiled by the Center for 
Responsive Politics.)

Yugoslavia is about the size of the state of Ohio, with a 
population less than 4 percent of the United States. If you 
also account for the difference in average income, this 
would be comparable here to a $30 billion donation from a 
foreign enemy to a U.S. presidential candidate. And this is 
in an economy that has been strangled by U.S.-led sanctions.

As in the U.S. election campaign, there are also lots of 
soft money donations. The congressional appropriation is 
just the tip of the iceberg. Both the Sept. 20 New York 
Times and the Sept. 19 Washington Post describe the 
suitcases of money handed over at the border. Advisers, 
pollsters, TV, radio and newspapers are all paid for by the 
U.S. government.

And this sum omits whatever the Soros Foundation or Germany 
and other West European powers pumped in.

Despite all this foreign funding, the opposition candidate 
Vojislav Kostunica claims that he is an independent who 
would refuse to turn over any government official to the 
Hague Tribunal. He promises Serbia will remain intact.

Kostunica counts on the U.S. and European Union's promises 
to lift sanctions if Milosevic is no longer president. He 
seems to have forgotten that the U.S. also promised 
Milosevic that if he signed the 1995 Dayton Accords on 
Bosnia, the sanctions would be lifted. Milosevic signed. The 
sanctions remained.

WASHINGTON CLARIFIES ITS GOAL: COUNTER-REVOLUTION

A new bill before Congress makes Washington's aims in this 
election clear. HR 1064, called the Serbian Democratization 
Act of 2000, stipulates that sanctions will remain in place 
until Yugoslavia agrees to "cooperate fully with The Hague 
and hand over anyone charged." A new government must agree 
to detach Kosovo, grant "autonomy to Vojvodina"--the region 
in the north of Serbia--and "give up any claim to previously 
owned property of the Yugoslav Federation, including its 
missions, offices and consulates."

U.S. intervention is hardly limited to funding the 
opposition and planning for its administration after the 
election. Part of Yugoslavia--Kosovo--is under military 
occupation by the very forces funding the opposition. The 
Pentagon held joint military maneuvers with Croatia--whose 
government is hostile to Yugoslavia--and a landing invasion 
exercise on an island off shore in the Adriatic Sea during 
the Sept. 24 elections.

Washington's goals go far beyond gross interference in an 
election campaign against one man, Milosevic. That's why the 
U.S. strategists wanted Kostunica to refuse to participate 
in the runoff election. They are not satisfied with an 
orderly transfer of some government positions if Milosevic's 
Socialist Party-led coalition would still command the 
Yugoslavia Parliament, whose control it retained in the 
Sept. 24 election.

Strikes and shutdowns organized by the opposition show that 
Washington's real aim is fomenting a civil war and the 
violent overthrow of the whole government apparatus, 
replacing it with a weak government completely compliant to 
U.S. demands. The U.S. especially wants to destroy the 
Yugoslav Army, which has its roots in the socialist 
revolution of 1945.

KOSTUNICA AND G17

Why are all the imperialist forces throwing such enormous 
support to Kostunica?

Kostunica is backed by a coalition of 18 parties called the 
Democratic Opposition of Serbia. DOS embraces the 
reconstruction plan of a group of Yugoslav economists called 
the Group of 17-Plus. The mission statement of the G17 
openly brags that many of the groups' economists work for 
the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund.

For anyone who holds illusions that the NATO countries--the 
imperialists--might actually be supporting a "democratic 
alternative," it would help to review the economic plan of 
the G17 to understand the enthusiasm of U.S. and West 
European banks and corporations for Kostunica.

Michel Chossudovsky is a professor of economics at the 
University of Ottawa and the author of a well-known book on 
IMF policies, "The Globalization of Poverty." Chossudovsky 
showed that the G17 is funded by the Washington-based 
"Center for International Private Enterprise" which is an 
affiliate of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. In an article co-
authored by Jared Israel and available on www.tenc.net, and 
developed in depth in the book "NATO in the Balkans," 
Chossudofsky shows the role of the IMF in dismantling 
Yugoslavia.

This whole apparatus is directly funded by the National 
Endowment for Democracy, which the U.S. Congress created in 
order to finance operations that the Central Intelligence 
Agency used to fund clandestinely. This is not speculation. 
Allen Weinstein, who planned the NED, said, "A lot of what 
we do today was done covertly 25 years ago by the CIA."

The G17 is wholly committed to capitalism, free markets and 
the dismantling of the public sector. They are committed to 
doing away with programs that subsidize food, rent or 
transportation, along with free medical care. World Bank and 
IMF policies in country after country force businesses, both 
public and private, into bankruptcy. Then foreign 
corporations buy them out at rock bottom prices. A dependent 
colonial economy is the result.

IMF EXPERIMENT LED TO BREAKUP

Yugoslavia went through a wrenching experiment with IMF 
privatization in 1989. Professor Veselin Vukotic, now elder 
statesman of the G17, was then the minister of privatization 
under Yugoslav Premier Ante Markovic.

Vukotic worked on a World Bank plan to privatize Yugoslav 
industry. Yugoslav companies were selected for bankruptcy or 
liquidation. This plan orchestrated the breakup of 50 
percent of Yugoslav industry, wiping out 1,100 industrial 
firms. Over 614,000 industrial workers were laid off, out of 
2.7 million. Industrial output shrank by 21 percent.

As social programs were unraveling, unemployment 
skyrocketing and wages plunging, Yugoslavia as a federation 
began to unravel. There were strikes and worker actions. But 
the economic chaos also gave rise to separatist tendencies 
among the six republics that made up the Socialist 
Federation of Yugoslavia.

In the 1991 elections Serbia and Montenegro tried to reject 
these disastrous economic policies. The regimes in other 
republics cast their lots with the plans of the Western 
bankers.

In January 1991 U.S. Foreign Appropriations legislation 
ordered a cutoff in trade, loans or aid to any republic that 
held elections that the State Department did not approve. 
The Foreign Appropriations bill each year legislates all 
manner of strangulation against the economy of any country 
not moving fast enough toward a capitalist market economy. 
For attempting some resistance to the plans of the World 
Bank, Serbia was targeted.

In the years of economic strangulation caused by the 
sanctions that the West imposed on the two remaining 
republics of Yugoslavia, many of these economic plans have 
been reversed, increasing public ownership. The G17 promises 
that Kostunica's election would mean Yugoslavia would 
quickly adapt "free market" policies and privatize the 
entire economy.

THE MINERS' STRIKE

Reports in the Western media on the Kolubara miners' strike 
indicate that the government has lost at least some of the 
support it once had in the working class, and that workers 
are dissatisfied with the decline in their living standards.

No one sympathetic to the workers' struggle can be pleased 
that police have to be sent in against workers. The world 
should remember, however, what happened to the Polish 
shipyard workers in Gdansk who led the struggle against the 
Polish government. The new neo-liberal regime shut the 
shipyard as it was no longer profitable on the world market, 
and all the workers lost their jobs. Miners in Russia and 
Romania faced the same IMF shutdowns.

It would be foolish to believe that the U.S. government, 
which has suppressed democracy and overthrown legally 
elected popular governments from Guate mala to Iran to 
Greece to Chile to Grenada to Haiti, is interested in 
democratic process in Yugoslavia. What it wants is to impose 
savage capitalism on Serbia and Montenegro.

Kostunica claims Yugoslavia under his administration will 
become a "normal Western government." But what does that 
mean when there are only two kinds of status for countries 
in Europe today?

Yugoslavia can't join the imperialist powers like Germany, 
France or even Austria, which held colonial empires and 
whose economies today have a global reach. Its only choice 
is to share the fate of Bulgaria, Romania, Albania and 
Ukraine.

The economy and the standard of living in these countries is 
worse than it is in Yugoslavia, even after 78 days of NATO 
bombing and eight years of international sanctions. The 
people in these countries are the victims of 10 years of 
economic restructuring. Colonial subjugation and the 
dismantling of industry have been imposed on them. And 
that's the choice Kostunica and his U.S. tutors offer 
Yugoslavia.

WHAT TO DO

The International Action Center has issued a call directed 
to those in the United States who want to show solidarity 
with Yugoslavia and its struggle to resist counter-
revolution and a U.S./NATO takeover.

In response to the U.S. and Western Europe's blatant use of 
funds to influence the Yugoslav election, the IAC and its 
founder, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, have 
called for a Commission of Inquiry to investigate the full 
extent of U.S. intervention in the Yugoslav elections. It is 
seeking evidence of this intervention and hopes to expose it 
as a crime, just as it did with the war crimes the U.S. and 
other NATO forces committed against Yugoslavia in 1999.

Interested readers can contact the IAC at (212) 633-6646 or
e-mail iacenter@iacenter.org. Information is also available
on the Web site www.iacenter.org.

- END -

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DOS IMPLEMENTING SCENARIO WHICH NATO FAILED TO REALIZE, MINISTER MATIC
         BELGRADE, October 4 (Tanjug)  Yugoslav Information Minister Goran 
Matic said on Wednesday that he expected a good turnout for the second 
round of elections for state president on October 8, and that the 
electorate will express their will and vote for the candidate of their 
choice in a free and democratic manner, without pressures or interference 
from outside or within.
         Speaking in a broadcast by YUInfo television, Matic said elections 
held in Yugoslavia on September 24 "were overexposed in the international 
public from the very beginning of the election campaign."
         "Practically, they were given importance which elections in other 
countries do not have according to the nature of things. It is evident that 
a large deposit had been made for these elections," he said.
         Through these elections, the countries which committed the 
aggression on Yugoslavia had wanted to secure amnesty for the crimes they 
committed against the civilian population in Yugoslavia and, generally, for 
that entire shameful, uncivilized and illegal aggression for which there 
was no basis in any legal act or international document, Matic said.
         The Minister singled out as especially interesting that foreign 
correspondents of media such as the BBC, Sky News, NTV, ARD, CDF, did not 
hide their disappointment that no conflicts had broken out already on the 
day of elections, even bloodshed, in the streets of Belgrade and other 
places in Yugoslavia, and that the elections had passed in a peaceful and 
democratic atmosphere.
         "This was a great disappointment for them and they invested 
everything to provoke this in other ways," Matic said, illustrating this 
with a statement by wellknown British reporter John Simpson who, when asked 
from his BBC headquarters to give the actual figures for the first round of 
presidential elections, replied that figures were naturally important, but 
that the possibility to paralyse the country was far more important.
         Returning to the subject of the second round of presidential 
elections, Matic asked: "What is the secret behind (DOS presidential 
candidate Vojislav) Kostunica's fear to participate in a runoff" if he had 
an advantage of 600,000 votes in the first round, in which case the second 
round would be a mere formality for him.
         "Perhaps the secret is that DOS (Democratic Opposition of Serbia) 
stole votes and manipulated the elections by substituting boxes with 
presidential candidate ballots. Therefore, let us see who is the actual 
forger in these elections, and not believe it when they cry wolf, because 
that story is familiar," Matic said.
         Speaking about activities by home media in the present situation, 
Matic said the papers Vijesti, Glas javnosti, Blic, Danas, and some others 
"have become DOS's political pamphlets whose objective is to realize the 
scenario which Simpson had clearly announced as the homework of the BBC, 
which is a British state company and reflects the positions of Britains's 
state policy."

---

----- Original Message ----- 
From: SLP National Office 
To: SLP YOUTH 
Sent: Monday, October 02, 2000 2:10 PM
Subject: [slp-youth] Statement on Yugoslav elections from SLP delegation 


For information to comrades and friends: a statement on the Yugoslav
elections from Socialist Labour Party members who comprised the 
only British delegation in Yugoslavia as observers.

Best wishes from Socialist Labour

To Post a message, send it to:   slp-youth@eGroups.com
To Unsubscribe, send a blank message to:
slp-youth-unsubscribe@eGroups.com 

YUGOSLAV ELECTIONS - 
A LESSON IN OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE

At the invitation of the Socialist Party of Serbia, Britain's Socialist Labour 
Party sent a three-person delegation to participate in international monitoring 
of the Yugoslav elections held on 24 September. We were the only British 
representatives among  250 observers invited from around the world.

Our delegation travelled extensively throughout the country, was able to talk to 
officials and voters and visited numerous polling stations, gaining first-hand 
experience of what was actually taking place during an election which was 
being misreported in many parts of the world. 

From what we saw, the Federal Electoral Commission, an elected all-party 
body, did everything in its power to ensure that people were able to cast their 
votes without intimidation and in an orderly manner - and certainly in 
accordance with procedures which we would expect in a democratic, free 
election.

In Serbia, we visited the Muslim areas of Kraljevo and Novi Pazar as well as 
observing polling in the capital, Belgrade.

It was only in Montenegro that we observed the following irregularities:

1.      the so-called Democratic Opposition which boycotted the elections in 
Montenegro nevertheless gathered outside polling stations there in clear 
violation of election procedures, using intimidating behaviour towards 
prospective voters;

2.      we received many first-hand reports from people who stated they had 
been threatened with the loss of their jobs if they turned out to vote;

3.      we were in no doubt that countless refugees from Kosovo had been 
deliberately excluded from the electoral lists in Montenegro despite the fact 
that their identity cards, issued in 1999, gave them the right to vote, and were 
thus also prevented from voting.

We could only conclude that these tactics of intimidation and 
disenfranchisement were designed to benefit the so-called Democratic 
Opposition.

We were also appalled at the blatant outside interference in the procedures 
from Western governments which are obviously seeking to influence the 
outcome of these elections by promising economic aid and the lifting of 
sanctions if the Yugoslav people vote in accordance with the wishes of these 
governments and the European Union.

Mick Appleyard                Liz Screen                             Ian Johnson

---

Press release 22 / 09/ 2000
========================

CANADIAN OBSERVERS IN YUGOSLAVIA

Marjaleena Repo 

BELGRADE. The international observers of the Yugoslavian presidential and
parliamentary elections have arrived in Belgrade - some 200 of them from
(so far) 54 countries. Contrary to the reports that "they have not been
allowed in,"  there are registered observers from the following Western
European countries. Belgium, Denmark, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy,
Germany, Portugal, Sweden and UK. (The so far single American
observer is an active senior participant in the Gore presidential
campaign.) Among the observers are parlamentarians, delegates from
political parties and organizations, as well as independents like the two
participants from Canada.

The Canadian delegates have attended political rallies of the three major
presidential candidates, in Belgrade and Novi Sad. These events were noisy
and lively affairs, without any observable disturbances and any noticeable
police presence. Literature was freely distributed and received at these
events, in a way no different from political rallies in Canada. 
One of us (Marjaleena Repo) has paid particular attention to election
posters as she has been involved in the long-standing and not-yet-finished
fight for the right to poster in Canada - and she can report that posters
are everywhere in the street scene, accompanied by graffiti and the
defacing of each others posters even-steven fashion, it seems. She has seen
posterers at work in downtown Belgrade with posters urging women to vote,
while postering on top of other election messages! She had a chance to
discuss this contradiction with five English-speaking Yugoslavian youth
with their buckets and sponges. Unlike in Canadian cities, the posters
appear not to be scraped down by city workers but live to suffer the
indignities from competeing political parties. In addition, there are huge
billboards advertising the three major presidential candidates all around
the cityscape. All in all, the appearance of democracy in action.

The other Canadian delegate, Professor Dimitri Kitsikis, has a long-time
experience of national elections, having systematically studied and
observed them in many countries, notably in France, Greece and Turkey. His
observations are therefore particularly valid and he has been unshaken by
Western insistence that Yugoslav elections could be rigged. On the
contrary, he is observing that these elections do not differ
from those in any other democratic countries, particularly from France, of
which Dr. Kitsikis is an expert.

The delegates have attended an information session on the electoral process
in Yugoslavia and have been provided with background information and
documentation on how the system works and how it makes an effort to
guarantee  an equal, free and transparent voting method leading to reliable
results. Questions
were invited and responded to. We were informed that the delegates will be
able to attend any and all polling stations on voting day, Sept. 24, and
officials at the polls have been instructed to welcome foreign observers
with full access to the actual voting situation, while respecting the
citizens' right to privacy.

While in Belgrade, disturbing news reached the observers. The International
Herald Tribune of Sept. 20 has a front page story, titled "U.S. aids
Milosevic foes: Millions allocated to a democracy program." The article
states that U.S. officials have acknowledged $77 million financial
"contribution" to opposition groups in Yugoslavia, from students to labour,
from so-called independent media to political rock bands, and the newspaper
states that "There is nothing secret or even particularly unusual about the
U.S. democracy-building program in Serbia, which is closely co-ordinated
with European allies and is similar to previous campaigns in pre-democratic
Chile, South Africa and Eastern Europe, among other places."

Washington Post (Sept. 21) further reveals that U.S. officials and
corporations are also "providing a sophisticated opinion survey system,
engaging for the purpose the New York firm that has done the job for Bill
Clinton [Penn, Schoen and Berland Associates]" which explains the many
polls that "prove" that an
opposition candidate is ahead of President Milosevic and suggest vigorously
that Mr. Milosevic will only win by fraud.

While the Canadian and other Western media have alredy declared the
election to be "rigged" (without any evidence, of course), we believe that
the actual evidence for rigging and distorting the Yugoslavian election
results has been found in the pre-democratic countries of U.S. and the
European Union who in an wholly illegal and undemocratic fashion are
interfering in the domestic affairs of a sovereign country. This, of
course, must be condemned by all true democrats, be they individuals,
organizations or nations. - 30-


MARJALEENA REPO is a social justice activist and a long-standing member of
Canada's "democracy movement," with hands-on experience on how Canada's
democracy does and does not work. In April '99, she was a founding member
of The Ad Hoc Committee to Stop Canada's Participation in the War Against
Yugoslavia.  She lives in Saskatoon, Sask.

DR. DIMITRI KITSIKIS is a professor of International Relations at the
University of Ottawa since 1970 and a fellow of the Royal Society of
Canada. He is a specialist of the Balkans and Turkey and has written many
books on the area.

Professor Kitsikis is multi-lingual and can give interviews in French and
Greek as well as in English.

Back in Canada on September 29, Ms. Repo can be reached at (416)466-6533 or
(306)244-9724.
Professor Kitsikis will be back in Ottawa on October 2, and can be reached
at University of Ottawa, tel: (613)562-5735 or at his home tel: (613)834-4634.

===

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