TARGET YUGOSLAVIA: NATO's WAR OF AGGRESSION / Wednesday, 26 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 Wednesday, 26 May 1999 Radio Havana Cuba presents its coverage of the ongoing U.S.- led NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. ---------------------------------------------------------- POLL SHOWS OPPOSITION TO U.S.-LED NATO WAR INCREASES IN U.S. Opposition to the NATO bombardment of Yugoslavia is on the rise in the United States, as members of the international community also step up their criticism of the military alliance. A survey by CNN and the U.S. news daily USA Today has found that 82 percent of Americans favor a pause in the airstrikes as a prelude to a negotiated peace. The survey also revealed that President Bill Clinton's popularity has fallen dramatically due to what U.S. citizens believe is a lack of clarity in the objectives of his foreign policy, which has translated into a long NATO conflict that has not achieved peace in Kosovo. Only 53 percent of those questioned believe that Clinton is doing a good job, compared to 78 percent last December. Meanwhile in Stockholm on Wednesday, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a political solution to the Kosovo conflict and an end to the suffering of the Yugoslav population, independent of their ethnic origin. The President of the UN General Assembly, Uruguayan Foreign Minister Didier Opertti, charged Tuesday that NATO has ceased to be a defensive military alliance, converting itself the world's police, without taking into consideration the fact that the world is organized within the United Nations and its 185 members. Opertti said to accept the NATO action against Yugoslavia is to accept a new Holy Alliance that is trying to turn back the hands of time. And China has issued its most severe condemnation of NATO, accusing Washington of "devastating Yugoslavia with the false pretext of preventing a humanitarian catastrophe," when the aggression has produced "the largest tragedy in Europe since the Second World War." Beijing said that the United States, "with its racism and contempt for weak countries, has no moral authority to talk about human rights." And in other Yugoslavia news, experts in Belgrade reiterated today the catastrophic effects of NATO's bombardments on the environment. Experts from Yugoslavia's Democratic Party -- in opposition to the government of Slobodan Milosevic -- said the depleted uranium used in bombs create a radioactive dust that spreads for at least ten kilometers beyond the point of impact. They charged that the use of these types of bombs are merely a practical method to get rid of nuclear waste, and that they are converting Yugoslavia into a nuclear dump site. In relation to the destruction of chemical and petrochemical plants in northern Yugoslavia, the experts said the bombardments have produced a concentration of vinyl monomeric chloride 10,600 times greater than the tolerance level. Each electricity transformer that has been destroyed contains ten tons of a cancerigenic mineral acid with which four million liters of water can be contaminated with just one liter. Meanwhile, some 50,000 sick Yugoslav citizens are suffering the effects of electricity blackouts due to the NATO airstrikes, including those in intensive care units and premature babies in incubators. According to health authorities in Belgrade, the mortality rate of premature children has risen eight percent since the bombardments -- after having remained stable for the past ten years. On Tuesday, NATO spokesman Jamie Shea responded to this denunciation by pointing to the Kosovo refugee children in Albania and Macedonia who do not have water or electricity -- although he refused to acknowledge that the refugee crisis was actually created by NATO. -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-18406 1999-May-26 20:14:42