On how mass media prepares us for war in Serbia e Macedonia

["glr" <glr_y@iol.it>]

Un assaggio:

------ 

"Western special forces were still training the guerrillas, as a
result of decisions taken before the change of government in
Yugoslavia." (BBC, Jan. 29, 2001) (1)

The 'guerrillas' in question are members of the terrorist Kosovo
Liberation Army, or KLA. You remember the KLA, don't you? They're
the people who NATO installed in power in Kosovo in June 1999
after which they drove out almost all Serbs, 'Gypsies', Jews and
Slavic Muslims, or killed them. 

Bill Clinton and George W. are quite fond of the KLA 
and Sen. Joseph Lieberman has said:

"[The] United States of America and the Kosovo Liberation Army
stand for the same human values and principles. . . . Fighting for
the KLA is fighting for human rights and American values."
('Washington Post' April 28, 1999) 


------- Forwarded message follows -------
From:           	Jared Israel
Date sent:      	Mon, 5 Mar 2001 05:43:32 EST
Subject:        	KLA TERRORISTS ATTACK EVERYONE; MEDIA ATTACKS...MILOSHEVICH?
To:             	Jared Israel

URL - http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/expan.htm
www.tenc.net [Emperor's Clothes]

KLA TERRORISTS ATTACK EVERYONE; MEDIA ATTACKS...MILOSHEVICH?
by Jared Israel (3-4-2001)

The Western media is preparing us for yet another terrorist war which NATO 
will be helpless to prevent although it is training the terrorists. 

"Western special forces were still training the guerrillas, as a result of 
decisions taken before the change of government in Yugoslavia." (BBC, Jan. 
29, 2001) (1)

The 'guerrillas' in question are members of the terrorist Kosovo Liberation 
Army, or KLA. You remember the KLA, don't you? They're the people who NATO 
installed in power in Kosovo in June 1999 after which they drove out almost 
all Serbs, 'Gypsies', Jews and Slavic Muslims, or killed them. 

Bill Clinton and George W. are quite fond of the KLA and Sen. Joseph 
Lieberman has said:

"[The] United States of America and the Kosovo Liberation Army stand for the 
same human values and principles. . . . Fighting for the KLA is fighting for 
human rights and American values." ('Washington Post' April 28, 1999) 

The KLA, which goes under various names these days, has been dissolved more 
than once despite which it continues to start new terrorist wars. 

Aside from an invasion of southern Serbia, which it started a year ago, the 
KLA is also attacking the country called Former Yugoslav Republic of 
Macedonia (or, for simplicity, 'Former Macedonia'.)

The KLA, or whomever, has been fully disarmed but employs heavy weapons plus 
there are NATO combat helicopters providing air cover. (2)

MASS MEDIA PREPARES US FOR WAR

The way the mass media gets us ready for new terrorist wars is by marinating 
our heads in dreck.

Consider an article that appeared in the February 24th London 'Telegraph'. 
The body of the article concerns the KLA's latest terrorist attacks. But the 
headline reads:

"NATO FORCES FACE NEW THREAT IN BALKANS"

Huh? Is somebody threatening NATO? No, nobody is threatening NATO, although 
it richly deserves it. 

The point of the title is to give readers the proper attitude prior to 
breaking the news that NATO's prize pet, the KLA, is again attacking Serbia 
and Former Macedonia.

Readers must be directed away from unacceptable if perfectly logical 
speculations such as that maybe the UN group in Kosovo, which made the KLA 
the official 'Kosovo Protection Corp', and NATO, which has been training the 
terrorists attacking Serbia and Former Macedonia, are behind these attacks. 
Oh no no no, says the title, these attacks threaten NATO, and gently nudges 
us away from treacherous waters.

Now for your consideration, here is the article's first sentence:


"The Kosovo war was fought to defeat Slobodan Milosevic and his dream of a 
'Greater Serbia'". 
Amazing. This article is supposedly about recent terrorist attacks. News 
reports are supposed to start by telling us who did it, what happened, where 
it happened, when and why.

Did Miloshevich go out last night and launch terrorist attacks on the Former 
Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia plus southern Serbia? 

By leading with this sentence the 'Telegraph' dredges up all our memories of 
anti-Serb media stories past. It gives us the impression that whatever 
happens now stems from Miloshevich. This is important for two reasons. First, 
Miloshevich could not have done bad things, e.g., conducted a fight for a 
'Greater Serbia', without mass support. Thus this sentence is actually 
attacking the entire Serbian resistance to NATO. Second, NATO and the 
pro-NATO leaders in Belgrade are trying to build public support for arresting 
Miloshevich. They want to stage a show trial to convince the world that NATO 
is innocent and the Serbs are guilty for the breakup of Yugoslavia.

At the same time, this opening sentence tells readers that NATO is innocent 
of wrongdoing. If it had not bombed Yugoslavia and occupied Kosovo it would 
have failed to:

"defeat Slobodan Milosevic and his dream of a 'Greater Serbia'"

Thus, like the headline, the first sentence puts us in the proper mental 
state for a constructive news experience: pro-NATO and on the lookout for 
Serbian dreams of expansion.

But wait a minute. Is the 'Telegraph' seriously saying NATO bombed Yugoslavia 
to stop a Miloshevich dream?

Or did this dream take some earthly form? Was Miloshevich trying to expand 
Serbia into Kosovo?

That must be the idea, but there is a wee glitch. At the time NATO attacked, 
Kosovo was a province of Serbia. In fact Kosovo has been an internationally 
recognized province of Serbia since World War I. Kosovo is the heart of 
Serbia. Saying Serbia was expanding into Kosovo is similar to saying New York 
is expanding into Manhattan.

This 'Greater Serbia' stuff has been foisted on us by Western journalists, 
politicians and professors for a decade. It is the stock explanation for 
every conflict in Yugoslavia. But despite all of Miloshevich's expansionist 
dreaming, Serbia has never annexed any land. Not an acre. But a million Serbs 
and other Yugoslav loyalists have been driven from their lands and/or homes 
in other parts of Yugoslavia (e.g., the farmers who owned most of Bosnia's 
land because they farmed it). These refugees, mostly but not all ethnic 
Serbs, now live in Serbia. 

"TO DEFEND THE UNION"

Yugoslavia, led by Serbia, fought defensively throughout the 1990s, resisting 
secessionists who launched armed attacks on Yugoslav forces and who 
depopulated vast areas of Serbs and other undesirables. The two most extreme 
examples are the Krajina section (over 200,00 Serbs driven out by Croatian 
fascist troops under U.S. leadership in 1995) and Kosovo (about 350,000 
driven out following NATO takeover in June, 1999).

The goal of the secessionist attacks was to rip off parts of Yugoslavia and 
form mini-states under US and German domination. Serbs were the main target 
because they are the cement of Yugoslavia. The German Establishment has been 
fully aware of this fact for 100 years which is why Germany launched two 
world wars with attacks on the Serbs.

Thus throughout the 1990s Yugoslavia, led by Serbia, has in effect resisted 
Anglo-U.S. and German "dreams of expansion." 

Serbia was in a position similar to that of the northern states during the 
U.S. Civil War. (7) The North fought to prevent the southern states from 
forming a slave nation under British domination and Serbia fought to prevent 
parts of Yugoslavia from forming racially 'pure' statelets under Western 
domination.. 

Western politicians and the mass media have accused Serbia of destabilizing 
the Balkans. What breathtaking cynicism. As anyone who has read European 
history knows, the existence of a state unifying the south Slavs 
('Yugoslavia') is crucial to the stability of southern Europe and Russia. 
Serbia's opposition to the splintering of Yugoslavia into weak Anglo-American 
and German neocolonies has nothing to do with "dreaming of a 'Greater 
Serbia'".

THE MEDIA MILOSHEVICH

To make the 'Greater Serbia' charge believable it has been linked to the 
accusation that Mr. Miloshevich was and is motivated by hatred of non-Serbs.

The Western media has come up with a new, improved Miloshevich to aid in 
digesting this idea. I encountered this Media Miloshevich while watching a 
Fox News program during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Fox was interviewing 
a 'NY Times' reporter, an 'expert' on Yugoslavia. The reporter said:

"The ethnic cleansing of Kosovo, as Milosevich would call it, is a success." 

So brief but so untrue.

If the reporter said, "Miloshevich has popularized the term 'ethnic 
cleansing' and used it in Kosovo," it would have been a lie, but a straight 
forward lie. One could have asked: "Where's the proof?" 

But the reporter presented his accusation as if he were mentioning a fact so 
well known it required no proof. Such casualness has great power for it makes 
the uninformed viewer (virtually all Americans) think: "So, Miloshevich 
invented the idea of ethnic cleansing. One more reason to get that man behind 
bars."

The 'New York Times' has been replete with references to Miloshevich as the 
author of 'ethnic cleansing.' For instance, on August 3, 1992. Anthony Lewis, 
the prolific Serb-baiter, wrote, in a 'Times' column syndicated in several 
other newspapers:

"President Bush compared Saddam Hussein to Hitler. I am against such 
analogies, because they cheapen the Holocaust. But if that one is to be used, 
it better fits the Serbian leader, Slobodan Milosevic, the inventor of 
'ethnic cleansing.'" (Anthony Lewis, 'N.Y. Times,' August 3, 1992)

Emperor's Clothes uses a research tool called Lexis. With it we can scan the 
world press going back 20 years in a few seconds. If a statement has been 
published in the media, we'll find it. 

I did an exhaustive search of 'N.Y. Times' articles. The 'N.Y. Times' has 
never quoted Miloshevich saying one word in favor of 'ethnic cleansing'. 
Never. 

How could Miloshevich call for 'ethnic cleansing' without using the words?

The reporter interviewed by Fox (and Mr. Lewis, and a host of others) was 
simply lying - or to be more accurate, he was not only lying, he was 
presenting his lie in a manner calculated to make the viewer feel that 
everyone but himself or herself of course knew it was true. 

The term 'ethnic cleansing' has an interesting history. It was first used in 
Kosovo in the early 1980s. Albanian secessionists were waging a terrorist 
campaign, driving tens of thousands of Serbs from Kosovo. (4) The 'N.Y. 
Times' covered this nightmare in a news story in 1982. The 'Times' reporter 
interviewed a Yugoslav official in Kosovo, a man of Albanian ancestry, who 
said:

"'The [Albanian] nationalists have a two-point platform...first to establish 
what they call an ethnically clean Albanian republic and then the merger with 
Albania to form a greater Albania." ("N.Y. Times', July 12, 1982)

For a bit more on the history of the use of 'ethnic cleansing' see footnote 
(6) at the end. 

EVERYBODY'S DOING IT

The accusations against Mr. Miloshevich (i.e., against Bad Serbs) have come 
from all sides. Liberal and even leftist writers have taken part in - and 
even led - these attacks. For example, there is the Spanish author, Juan 
Goytisolo, who views himself an icon of broad-mindedness. During the bombing 
of Yugoslavia, Mr. Goytisolo wrote a piece for the London 'Independent' 
attacking a phenomenon which in his title he broadmindedly called "THE VIRUS 
THAT HAS INVADED THE LEFT." (His emphasis) This virus consisted of writers 
who opposed NATO's bombing of the Serbs. 

Establishing his credentials in the first line, Mr. Goytisolo assures us 
that: "NO ONE detests aerial bombardments more than I do". (His emphasis.) 
This is encouraging, and once said, Mr. Goytisolo gets down to business, 
which is to explain why he does not detest the aerial bombing of Serbia:

"Since 1992, it has been apparent to anyone familiar with the Serbian 
ultra-nationalist ideology embraced by Milosevic that the Kosovo ethnocide 
was inevitable...Full of hatred and scorn for the Bosnian Muslim and the 
Kosovar Albanian, [Milosevich's views] did not differ greatly from the 
anti-Semitic diatribes of the Nazis." (4-21-1999, London 'Independent') 

Please note that Mr. Goytisolo does not provide evidence for his charge that 
anti-Albanian ethnocide has taken place in Kosovo. Rather he acts as if the 
existence of this supposed ethnocide is an established fact and concerns 
himself only with the question why it has happened. The answer, he says, is 
Mr. Miloshevich and his supposed ideology of hate.

The problem is, at the time Mr. Goytisolo wrote these words many people said 
the ethnocide charge was a lie. And clearly, were the ethnocide charge a lie, 
the hunt for Serbian motivations for carrying it out would carry less weight.

Since NATO took over Kosovo in June, 1999, it has employed an army of 
forensic experts in Kosovo. These folks have dug up half the province, 
accompanied by frequent press conferences in which various NATO and War 
Crimes Tribunal types promised to find mass graves with tens of thousands of 
victims of Serbian brutality. In fact, they have produced none - no mass 
graves, no Serbian atrocities. Digging up individual graves all over Kosovo, 
they found fewer than 3000 bodies. NATO has said 2000 people died before the 
bombing of Yugoslavia, that is, before the supposed 'ethnocide' took place. 
That leaves 1000. We know that hundreds of people died in NATO bombing and 
hundreds more in fighting on the ground between the KLA and Yugoslav troops. 

After the most exhaustive hunt in history, NATO has produced exactly no 
evidence that Serbian troops massacred ethnic Albanians.

The accusation of ethnocide was a fabrication. (5) 

Why were Goytisolo and others able to get away with writing articles that 
assumed the truth of this lie? Because the mass media barraged us with sound 
bites, voiceovers, gruesome film footage, interviews with 'victims.' 
Constantly repeated, these established the ethnocide lie as an emotional 
truth; then people like Goytisolo could embellish without fear of 
repercussions. The Serbs were fair game. 

Mr. Goytisolo says he knew the (nonexistent) ethnocide would happen because 
he was familiar with Miloshevich's "ultra-nationalist ideology" involving 
"hatred and scorn for the Bosnian Muslim and the Kosovar Albanian" not unlike 
the "anti-Semitic diatribes of the Nazis." 

Was this ideology, like the nonexistent drive for 'Greater Serbia', also 
limited to Mr. Miloshevich's dreams? Or was Miloshevich's ideology written 
down somewhere?

If it was not written down, then how did Goytisolo become familiar with it? 

If it was written down: where? In a book? In the text of a speech? Is 
Miloshevich at least quoted in a single news report saying hateful things 
about Muslims and Kosovars? 

Goytisolo is silent. That is really too bad because in all the interviews and 
speeches I have read Mr. Miloshevich attacks Nazi-type ideologies and calls 
for national brotherhood. 

Could it be that Mr. Goytisolo is reading stuff written by that Media 
Miloshevich mentioned above? The one who doesn't exist?

To be fair, in the 'Independent' article Mr. Goytisolo does offer some 
monstrous quotes to support his charge. The first is from Generalissimo 
Francisco Franco, the Fascist dictator of Spain. Another is from Adolph 
Hitler. Then we get more Franco, and finally...another from Hitler. And then 
Mr. Goytisolo lays down his trump card: Miloshevich, he declares, is just 
like them!

Alas, it doesn't sit right. If only Goytisolo could provide some word, some 
deed, some sort of indication of "hatred and scorn" for the Muslim or the 
Kosovar.

Goytisolo provides: nothing. Could it be he was really thinking about Franco 
and Hitler all that time, and it just came out 'Miloshevich'?

THE INFAMOUS SPEECH

For years we have been told Miloshevich launched the drive for 'Greater 
Serbia'" at a speech he gave in Kosovo in 1989. 

The only thing that nobody who attacks the speech ever does is quote it. We 
have posted the speech on Emperor's Clothes. (3) Below are two excerpts. 

First, here is what Miloshevich said about non-Serbian citizens of Serbia, 
including of course ethnic Albanians and Muslims of varying ethnicity:

"Serbia has never had only Serbs living in it. Today, more than in the past, 
members of other peoples and nationalities also live in it. This is not a 
disadvantage for Serbia. I am truly convinced that it is its 
advantage...Socialism in particular, being a progressive and just democratic 
society, should not allow people to be divided in the national and religious 
respect. The only differences one can and should allow in socialism are 
between hard working people and idlers and between honest people and 
dishonest people. Therefore, all people in Serbia who live from their own 
work, honestly, respecting other people and other nations, are in their own 
republic."

It has been estimated that the audience for Miloshevich's 1989 speech was as 
high as one million people. If Miloshevich was going to whip the throngs into 
a frenzy over his ''dream of a 'Greater Serbia''', this was the time to do 
it. 

"For as long as multinational communities have existed, their weak point has 
always been the relations between different nations. The threat is that the 
question of one nation being endangered by the others can be posed one day -- 
and this can then start a wave of suspicions, accusations, and intolerance, a 
wave that invariably grows and is difficult to stop. This threat has been 
hanging like a sword over our heads all the time. Internal and external 
enemies of multi-national communities are aware of this and therefore they 
organize their activity against multinational societies mostly by fomenting 
national conflicts. At this moment, we in Yugoslavia are behaving as if we 
have never had such an experience and as if in our recent and distant past we 
have never experienced the worst tragedy of national conflicts that a society 
can experience and still survive."

Smear campaigns are often successful because most people are reasonably 
honest and make the understandable if mistaken assumption that everyone is 
like them. Thus when a well-known and supposedly broad-minded writer (like 
Goytisolo) says Milosevich has an ideology similar to the Nazis, people are 
inclined to think, "Where there's smoke, there's fire," i.e., there must be 
some truth to the charge. But the truth is it is a bare-faced lie.

MEANWHILE, BACK IN SOUTHERN SERBIA

France, one of the lesser "external enemies of multi-national communities," 
has squealed on two of the greater enemies, the U.S. and Britain, informing 
newsmen that:

"NATO countries were discussing whether to send troops into a tense southern 
Serbia buffer zone, but the alliance flatly denied such a move was being 
considered.  

"'The question of whether it is necessary to deploy an international military 
force in this region is now being discussed among the allies,' French 
Ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said...

"French diplomatic sources said discussion of a force was prompted by concern 
over the safety of EU [European Union] monitors."  ('Reuters', 3-1-2001)

You remember Southern Serbia, don't you? That's one of the places which the 
KLA, under one of its names, is invading. It is the violence resulting from 
this KLA invasion which, if the French happen to be telling the truth, is to 
serve as NATO's excuse to invade southern Serbia as well.

Do you remember the KLA? That's that terrorist group which the BBC said 
"Western special forces were still training." But don't worry, it's OK for 
the West to be training these terrorists because Senator Lieberman says 
they're fighting for ''American values'' and anyway it's being done "as a 
result of decisions taken before the change of government in Yugoslavia", in 
other words, while Miloshevich was still running things and I'm sure you 
remember Miloshevich. 

Don't you? 

Come on how many times do I have to explain he's the guy who hates everyone 
and is always dreaming about attacking other people's countries remember? No 
no not Bill Clinton. Not Tony Blair for Pete's sake. Not Junior Bush --- 
Miloshevich. He's behind that violence in southern Serbia which is 
threatening our boys. We need to send more troops in there and kick some 
serious butt and then put that guy somewhere he can't do any more harm 
against our Way of Life and - and - and - and... 

So many lies. So little time.

-- Jared Israel 3-2-2001

Further reading

1) The BBC tells all. Anyway, it tells a lot. See: 'Diplomats Admit NATO 
Backs KLA Invasion of Inner Serbia' at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/docs/admi.htm. 

2) On NATO helicopters providing air cover for the KLA invasion of southern 
Serbia, see 'Pentagon Dogs'; at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/tika/dogs.htm 

3) Miloshevich's 1989 Kosovo speech can be read at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/milosaid.html 

4) In the interview "Kosovo: Nightmare with the Best Intentions" two 
Serbian-Americans tell what it was like in Kosovo during the 1970s and 1980s. 
Most informative. http://www.emperors-clothes.com/interviews/tika.htm 

5) The following are useful articles on the myth of Albanian genocide in 
Kosovo:

* Gen. Mac Kenzie commanded the UN forces in Bosnia. He examines the Kosovo 
mass graves baloney in 'Where have all the bodies gone?' by General (retired) 
Lewis MacKenzie at http://emperors-clothes.com/news/mack.htm 

* This is the report of the press conference held by Spanish Forensic experts 
who walked off the job in Kosovo and criticized NATO. 'Spanish experts see no 
Serbian genocide in Kosovo'
by Pablo Ordaz http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/spanish.htm

* On the significance of the Spanish forensic experts: 'Spanish Forensic 
Experts' Report - A Commentary' by Jared Israel at 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/sp-comment.htm 

CLICK TO RETURN TO WHERE YOU WERE READING

6) Much could be written about the macabre history of 'ethnic cleansing'. The 
term derives from the racism of those ethnic Albanian secessionists, schooled 
by Hitler during World War II, who looked (and still look) upon Serbs, 
'Gypsies' and Jews as filth - hence the desire to create that curiously 
phrased entity, the "ethnically clean Albanian republic." (N.Y. Times, July 
12, 1982; for entire article go to 
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/benworks/1980news.html#BM9)

The term was picked up by psychological warfare experts advising neo-Fascist 
Croatian secessionists in 1991-1992. In a truly Orwellian touch, spokesmen 
for the Fascist Croatians claimed 'ethnic cleansing' was the program of the 
very Serbs they were at that time driving from ancestral lands in and near 
Croatia.

But the term was little known in the West until Bush, Sr. used it in a press 
conference, August 6, 1992. There he declared a major escalation in the U.S. 
anti-Serbian policy, supposedly in reaction to a TV program which had been 
shown some 20 minutes before the Conference. The TV program broadcast what 
were supposed to be pictures of a (nonexistent) Serb death camp. 

(Emperor's Clothes has produced JUDGMENT, a movie which proves that these 
infamous pictures of what appeared to be emaciated victims of a death camp 
were actually doctored from staged footage of a humanitarian refugee center. 
If you have not seen this movie and you want to know the truth, I urge you to 
buy a copy. If the standard price of $20 plus shipping is too much please 
tell us. You may pay whatever you can afford. See 
http://emperors-clothes.com/Film/judge.htm )

At the August 6th, 1992, Press Conference President Bush declared: 

"The [Serb] aggressors and extremists pursue a policy - a vile policy - of 
ethnic cleansing".

Thus President Bush planted in the public mind the notion that Serb leaders 
had invented a concept actually rooted in 'vile' hatred of the Serbian 
people, the 'black people of the Balkans.' During the following year, this 
blaming-the-victim refrain was promoted in literally thousands of newspaper 
articles and television programs until it became nearly impossible for 
ordinary people to recall when they first 'learned' that ethnic cleansing was 
a concept enthusiastically endorsed by the Serbs, its primary victims. - 
CLICK TO RETURN TO WHERE YOU WERE READING

7) See 'Abe Lincoln and Slobodan Milosevic' by economist Jude Wanniski
http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/abe.htm 

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------- End of forwarded message -------

----- 
Giorgio Ellero 
<glr_y@iol.it> 
http://digilander.iol.it/glry 
-----