TARGET YUGOSLAVIA: NATO's WAR OF AGGRESSION / Thursday, 27 May 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 Thursday, 27 May 1999 Radio Havana Cuba presents its coverage of the ongoing U.S.-led NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. ---------------------------------------------------------- FORMER U.S. PRESIDENT CRITICIZES BOMBINGS; FUTURE NEGOTIATIONS BECOME MORE COMPLICATED Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter has strongly criticized the U.S.-led NATO attacks against the Serb Republic in an article published today in The New York Times. Carter wrote that the end does not always justify the means -- even for the planet's only superpower. He said the NATO bombardments have been counterproductive and the destruction of civilian life has become "senseless and brutal." The leader of a peace foundation that carries his name asserted that after 25,000 airstrikes and 14,000 missiles and bombs, there is little indication that NATO will be successful. According to the former U.S. President, many of the more than one million Albanian residents of Kosovo, forced to leave that province, will never be able to return home -- even in the best of circumstances. He blasted the use of cluster bombs, the death of innocent civilians and the damage to hospitals, offices, homes and nearly ten embassies. Carter charged that the Pentagon and NATO disregarded several basic principles in the prevention or resolution of conflicts, including thorough negotiations and prior consultations with the United Nations Security Council. The former U.S. president said the real victims of this mistaken attitude are the civilian residents of Kosovo. Meanwhile, the international criminal court at The Hague has accused Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic of war crimes. Although most Western nations and human rights groups applauded the formal charges, several countries deplored the move. French Interior Minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement stated that criminal accusations against one of the parties in the negotiation process should be avoided. Russia's Foreign Ministry warned that the move will not contribute to a peaceful solution to the Kosovo crisis, while the government of Sweden called the decision "a politically unfortunate action that could complicate the situation." ---------------------------------------------------------- RADIO HAVANA CUBA'S VIEWPOINT / Thursday, 27 May 1999 During a meeting held in Havana this week, Cuban Foreign Minister Roberto Robaina described the continued bombardment of the Yugoslav Federation by the combined forces of NATO and the U.S. as "horrifying." He compared the images of death and destruction that are seen on TV screens around the world to a "horror movie" and said he is disgusted by the manner in which Washington and Brussels coldly analyze the results of bombing runs on the Yugoslav people. This concern by the Cuban foreign minister is echoed by many of his counterparts throughout the world, but those governments that officially condemn the aggression are few and far between -- Russia and China being the most notable exceptions. The Russian special envoy to Yugoslavia, Victor Chernomyrdin, has been attempting to bring all parties in the conflict to the peace table. His efforts have been stymied at every turn by the stubborn resistance of the United States, which is escalating its attacks on a daily basis. At this stage, says Chernomyrdin, if the attacks continue, he will recommend to President Boris Yeltsin that Russian participation in negotiations be suspended; that military cooperation with the U.S. and Western Europe be put on hold; that his country not ratify the START II Treaty and that Russia use its veto in the UN Security Council when measures relating to Yugoslavia are introduced. Matters have not been helped by the World Court's decision Thursday to indict for war crimes Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosovic and his deputy along with the president of Serbia, the Serbian Minister of the Interior and the Yugoslav Army Chief of Command. On a moral level, Chernomydin compared the attack against Yugoslavia to the invasion of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact countries in 1968, and warned that the world is closer to nuclear conflict than it has been since the end of the Cold War. The World Court decision referred to the forced deportation of some three quarters of a million people from Kosovo and the deaths of 340 of them as reason to indict. There is no reference to the huge numbers of Yugoslav citizens that have been forced from their homes or bombed out of them altogether, or of the 1300 deaths directly attributable to NATO and U.S. missiles. No mention is made of the fact that half of the population of the working-class town of Valjevo are out work after 28 attacks on its 35,000 inhabitants. And, in case anyone was worried that their TV viewing pleasure might be further ruined by those haunting images to which Roberto Robaina was referring... have no fear. The European Telecommunications Network, Eutelsat, suspended its satellite transmissions of Serbian TV and radio on Thursday. Henceforth, we will all be exclusively subjected to the computerized, impersonal strike images NATO and U.S. spokespeople love showing us -- avoiding the unpleasant and annoying pictures of mutilated children's bodies and bombed-out civilians weeping by the roadside in the wake of one of their infamous surgical strikes. -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-13075 1999-May-27 23:42:12