TARGET_YUGOSLAVIA-Fri_Apr_16_1999 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit SPECIAL FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org TARGET YUGOSLAVIA: NATO's WAR OF AGGRESSION Friday, 16 April 1999 Radio Havana Cuba presents its coverage of the ongoing U.S.- led NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. WAR ON YUGOSLAVIA SETS DANGEROUS PRECEDENT The U.S.-led NATO attacks against Yugoslavia have set a dangerous precedent, according to renowned Mexican writer Carlos Fuentes. Regional military alliances -- with Washington's blessing -- can now apparently intervene without the approval of the United Nations Security Council. In an extensive article published Thursday in the Mexico City daily "La Reforma," Fuentes warns that given the example of the ongoing war against Yugoslavia by NATO forces, the Organization of American States could possibly intervene militarily in a Latin American country for so-called "humanitarian reasons." The Mexican writer expresses the opinion that one of the biggest problems in today's world is the global power that has been concentrated in the hands of a single nation -- the United States. Carlos Fuentes affirms that the attacks against Yugoslavia are clearly a product of U.S. intervention, despite the fact that Washington is hiding behind the mask of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Calling the U.S.-led NATO war of aggression a violation of the sovereignty and self-determination of Yugoslavia, the influential Mexican writer asks what would be Washington's response if two-thirds of the Hispanic population of the State of California decided to secede from the Union. NATO ATTACKS TARGET YUGOSLAVIA'S AGRO-INDUSTRIAL SECTOR The latest attacks by NATO forces against Yugoslavia have reported targeted the country's agro-industrial sector. Factories producing fertilizers and gasoline depots for agricultural machinery have been hit in recent bombings. According to Belgrade, another attack targeted a chemical plant located some 20 kilometers from the Yugoslav capital, wounding 17 civilians and prompting the evacuation of large areas of the city. Yugoslavia's Foreign Ministry has estimated that material damage following more than three weeks of bombardments is reaching 100 billion dollars. Meanwhile, the President of the International Red Cross, Cornelio Sommarugi, stated today in Moscow that the conflict in the Balkans is "a political and social catastrophe of unforeseeable humanitarian consequences." --------------------------------------------- RADIO HAVANA CUBA's VIEWPOINT / 16 April 1999 Wednesday's news of the US attack on a refugee column in which at least 75 Albanian Kosovars were killed, has brought home to the international community just what type of war is now being waged against the Yugoslav Federation. The so-called "humanitarian" object of the bombing has done irreparable damage to the civilian population and the Federation's infrastructure and ensured that an entire population seeks asylum from a land to which they may never be able to return. At the very least, ethnic and regional hatreds will be the legacy of NATO's aggression for decades to come. How is it that Europe has allowed itself to be dragged by the United States into such a potentially catastrophic conflict for the entire region? Do politicians learn nothing from history? England, as political analyst Noam Chomsky so succinctly puts it, is simply "Washington's attack dog." France, although initially opposing armed intervention, is notoriously mercurial. The Netherlands, like England and the United States, have an aggressive history of repression of other nations. Italy and Belgium sit on the sidelines with the police in Brussels brutally beating up those protesting the attack. And Germany... what of economically powerful Germany? The great driving force in Europe's integration? An anonymous statement from a German bureaucrat indicates that the German government knew exactly what it was getting Europe into and conspired with Washington to put its and the US's ground troops into Kosovo to mark out targets for NATO bombing. They work in direct coordination with the so-called Kosovo Liberation Army or KLA which was formed with CIA help and support. Chomsky lends credence to this statement by commenting that now that Germany is back in the world-power ball game, it can make up for lost battles. It's not by coincidence that the Luftwaffe bombed Belgrade on the very anniversary of its bombing of the same city during the Second World War. As NATO celebrates its 50th anniversary, as the UN Human Rights Commission is meeting for the 55th time, as the 20th century draws to a close, it seems that the old French saying of "the more things change, the more they remain the same," is more applicable than ever and that US domination of the planet by brutally putting down any nation that stands up to its bullying, is closer and closer to a science-fiction like reality. Who would have thought the Balkans could once again be the theater for such terrible conflict? But then, we are once again making the assumption that European politicians take note of their history texts! -30- [c] 1999, Radio Habana Cuba All rights reserved Articles cannot be reproduced, reprinted or published in any system without the consent of RHC. This prohibition includes the distribution of this material via Usenet News, "bulletin board" services, e-mail lists, print media, radio and television. 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