TARGET YUGOSLAVIA: NATO's WAR OF AGGRESSION / Monday, 7 June 1999 Via NY Transfer News Collective * All the News that Doesn't Fit CUBANEWS FROM RADIO HAVANA CUBA E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org http://www.radiohc.org TARGET YUGOSLAVIA: NATO's WAR OF AGGRESSION Monday, 7 June 1999 Radio Havana Cuba presents its coverage of the ongoing U.S.-led NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. -------------------------------------------------------- YUGOSLAVIA WANTS UNITED NATIONS TO DEFINE MANDATE OF INTERNATIONAL PEACE-KEEPING FORCE The government of Yugoslavia has announced that it is opposed to the implementation of a peace plan for Kosovo before the United Nations Security Council adopts a resolution defining the mandate of the international peace-keeping force to be deployed in that Yugoslav province. According to a Serb radio station, quoting a spokesperson from Belgrade's Foreign Ministry, only the Security Council can determine the size, structure and mandate of international presence in Yugoslavia. Following a breakdown Sunday in talks in Macedonia between NATO military chiefs and members of the Yugoslav top brass, this position was supported by Russia -- which also accused NATO of attempting to add political demands to the peace accord reached last week that would reduce the UN's role in Kosovo to zero. Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov, currently in Germany in an effort to hammer out a UN resolution on Kosovo with the seven most-industrialized nations, said NATO wants to define the framework for deploying the international force and the use of this force. He said such a definition actually comes under the authority of the UN Security Council. At the same time, Moscow says it will not vote for a UN resolution as long as NATO continues bombing Yugoslavia -- something that Washington and Brussels have vowed to continue. -------------------------------------------------------- RADIO HAVANA CUBA'S HEADLINERS / 7 June 1999 As the US and NATO pat themselves on the back for a job well done in Yugoslavia -- a job that has cost the lives of some 2500 civilians, maimed more than 6000 others and destroyed the nation's infrastructure, setting its economy back by decades -- Iraq has dropped out of sight of the world's mass media. The bombing of this Arab country nonetheless continues on an almost daily basis and the results are horrifying. Since the massive UN military response to Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait and the killing spree that followed, Iraq has been placed under an economic blockade that is strangling the economy. What was once a country that had one of the highest levels of education and health care in the region is now a backwater state. Every level of social life is falling apart as the population struggles to survive. Only 40% of the electricity supply is running and water supplies are largely unsanitary. Half of the country's schools are closed, with 30% of Iraq's children having dropped out of school in order to work to help their families survive. Iraq now has one of the highest infant mortality rates in the world -- directly attributable to US and British bombing as well as the blockade, which foreign non-governmental organizations say accounts for the deaths of 5000 children every month. Twenty three percent of all Iraqi children are malnourished. When recently confronted with these figures, US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said that she felt the price was "worth it." The nation has been set back into history and is rapidly taking on Third World status. There is also a dangerous religious revival that is replacing the once secular state, as many people turn to religion seeking solace or an outlet for their hatred. Whatever fear they may have of their government, they have more hatred of the US and Great Britain for the slow and effective destruction of their nation. As more and more people flee to the countryside to seek food and escape urban destitution, once prosperous Baghdad is becoming a backward country town. This is the experiment carried out on Iraq that has been transferred to Serbia. As with Iraq, it will take many decades to sew back together the social fabric that has been destroyed with such barbarity. Bombing civilians because one doesn't like their leaders is counterproductive as those people that may have once resisted the excesses of their leaders stand behind them when the bombs are falling. Economically blockading an entire population is nothing less than criminal and should be condemned internationally as genocide. More than one million Iraqis have died as a result of the imposition of the economic blockade -- at least half of them children. That's 500,000 children's lives lost for lack of food or medicine. Is this what awaits the Yugoslav Federation when Washington once again imposes its will on peace accords in such a way that Milosovic will be given no option but to walk out? At Rambouillet, before the attack on the Federation began, Milosovic had agreed to almost all the points currently outlined in the Russian-brokered peace plan adopted on June 3rd by the Serbian Parliament. Interestingly enough, this new peace plan is missing the Rambpouillet requirement of a referendum on Kosovo independence in the next three years. Yet Washington has made no protest of this, basking in the limelight of editorials praising Clinton's resolve such as that of The New York Times that said sustained bombing had been "effective" and that this was "a victory for the principles of democracy and human rights." Attacking a democratically-elected government for its handling -- however bad -- of an internal conflict by targeting its civilian population and infrastructure is a "VICTORY" for the principles of democracy and human rights?? What Yugoslavia rightly objected to at Rambouillet was the idea of a NATO peace force in Kosovo, proposing a UN command instead. It also categorically refused to accept sweeping powers over the Yugoslav Federation that were to be given to NATO. According to a report by the US organization Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, there is strong evidence that Washington intentionally proposed this NATO domination to provoke a negative response from Milosovic to the extent that a State Department official is reported to have said to journalists at Rambouillet, quote, "We intentionally set the bar too high for the Serbs to comply. They need some bombing and that's what they are going to get." The sad reality that the debate in the US was never between bombing and seeking a peaceful solution but between bombing and sending in ground troops. The US mass media claims a victory for Clinton simply because ground troops were never sent in. Thus it is clear that if Washington had negotiated in better faith at Rambouillet, the current peace proposals may have been accepted and the loss of life and phenomenal destruction of Yugoslavia's infrastructure could have been avoided altogether. When so many images of the destruction of a civilization are little more than sound bytes to the backdrop of CNN's dramatic "Complete coverage of the STRIKE AGAINST YUGOSLAVIA!" sounding like a blockbuster film-trailer -- what else can be expected other than children acting out their government's inclination for violence or resorting to violence as an acceptable resolution to conflict? The numerous high school killings are but a precursor. The legacy of Iraq and Yugoslavia will continue to haunt the US for many years to come. -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. For the complete RADIO HAVANA CUBA NEWSCAST and other features, please write for our daily broadcast schedule. We welcome your comments and suggestions. For further information, contact us at: Postal Address: Radio Havana Cuba P.O.Box 6240 Havana, Cuba Telephone: (53) (7) 791053 Fax: (53) (7) 795007 E-mail: rhc@radiohc.org WWW: http://www.radiohc.org rhc-eng-25036 1999-Jun-07 21:14:16