Bahus War Diary - A personal view

Press Review

The CNN TV News personalities are naturally excited when they have the privilege to announce that a certain target, such as a bridge or a factory, in Yugoslavia has been hit and destroyed. A friend wondered out loud how come the female TV personalities were able to be so cheerfull when announcing something that is certainly resulting in a loss of life. I am happy to announce that the sexist pig in question is not my friend anymore. I am not on speaking terms with Arthur Miller for a similar reason. When remembereing the McCartney's which hunt in America, he wrote: former senator Harry P. Cain told me: "tell you the truth, though, Arhut, the really vindictive ones were the wives. We'd be playing cards with some of these senatorial wives and their husbands, and more likely than not the wives'd be the ones who'd say, 'When are you going to get this one or that one? Why do you let him get away with saying this or that? Go get the son of a bitch!' They were the real haters."

Shame on Arthur and my former friend N. Shame on Alexander Dumas, father, who dared to say that women never yield to reason, only to emotion or to force. And shame on those who dare to disagree with the humanitarian NATO help for the Serbs. I suggest that, once it is done with Serbia, NATO turns its attention towards those individuals bellow who apparetnly decided that CNN reporting is not on the same level as holy scriptures and that it should be accepted without questioning. See for yourself...


GERMANY: "Responsibility Of The Military"

Paul Georg Hefty had this to say in an editorial in right-of-center Frankfurter Allgemeine (4/9): "Why do we know so little about the situation in Kosovo? In the past, the military argued that it helps the enemy to know what others know about military operations. But this argumentation is out-of-date. Now that computer-based pictures made by satellites and unmanned aircraft are common, every state realizes that its sophisticated opponents know almost everything about it. In this situation, it would not be detrimental for NATO to present pictures showing that a great mass of people has been rounded up at Site A, or that women and children are being forced into camps near military objects at Site B.... But NATO is not making a great effort to inform the people in the member countries of what is going on or to present evidence of horror stories.... In a democracy it is not the responsibility of the people to seek out information, it is the responsibility of the military to provide it to them."

ITALY: "The Eternal Balkan Problem"

A front-page commentary by Sandro Viola in left-leaning, influential La Repubblica stressed (4/9): "The only certain thing is that there will be another little state--Kosovo.... It is very likely that, with Montenegro's separation from Serbia, there will be nine states in the former Yugoslavia. In sum, pure Balkanization, the biggest mess ever made by a single generation of government leaders and diplomats. A series of
horrors that would have terrified the leaders and diplomats at the beginning of this century.... And the Serbian people will be the pariah of Europe in the year 2000. But the day the war is over...the Serbs will become a huge, festering lump of resentment and desperation.... Either the Serbs will realize that Milosevic is mainly responsible for their dramatic situation and will manage to recover in 10 or 20 years; or, as has always been the case in the Balkans before, they will feel they are victims of a plot against the Serbian nation.... In the latter case, we will see additional turbulence and a new instability emerge from that lump of resentment.... Considering possible post-war scenarios does not mean to question the reasons that have led to the war.... What else could we have done if not resort to the use of force with this kind of regime?... The fact remains, however, that this story will not be over with the end of NATO air strikes in Yugoslavia."

"Signals Of Truce And Otherwise"

Arturo Guatelli emphasized in Rome's centrist Il Messaggero (4/9): "They are very small, perhaps insignificant, but the signals of a possible truce exist at least: Germany's plan for stability in the Balkans; Dini's hope for a 'negotiated solution' of the crisis; Russia's
extreme caution; the continuing initiatives of Vatican diplomacy; the ballet of hypotheses about the release of the three U.S. soldiers; Belgrade's announcement that it will stop chasing UCK terrorists." Guatelli, however, also lists the "negative signals: U.S. intransigence; Albright's and Cohen's bellicose intentions; NATO's intention to drag Milosevic before The Hague Court on War Crimes; the still dramatic situation of the refugees; the West's belief that the Rambouillet accords are not obsolete. Enough to realize that the truce is still far away, perhaps only a hope without the necessary political support.... Albright and Cohen do not seem to think about the future. They are determined to destroy Milosevic's regime.... Why are they so ferociously opposed to any hypothesis for a compromise?... One thing to keep in mind is that they are American Jews, and that, in their memories, the shame of Nazism has not yet been erased."

"Madeleine Defends Herself: 'This Is Not My Personal War'"

Andrea di Robilant commented in centrist, influential La Stampa (4/9) on Secretary Albright's interview on the Larry King Show: "Albright's reaction reflects the 'passing the buck' atmosphere that has developed in Washington since the beginning of the NATO air
strikes against Yugoslavia. President Clinton said yesterday that he believes the air strikes will work and that there will be no need for ground troops. But American newspapers are full of anonymous statements by military and strategic experts--at the Pentagon, the CIA and other centers of power--expressing their dissatisfaction and criticism of the political leaders."

RUSSIA: "Serbs, NATO To Blame For Catastrophe"

Teimuraz Mamaldze stated in reformist Noviye Izvestiya (4/9): "There isn't, and there can't be, a simple answer to why Kosovars leave en masse, no matter how the antagonists try to justify their actions. They flee destruction and death, whoever is responsible--the Serbian police, 'their' KLA, or an American F-117A pilot. In that sense, NATO strategists may well list themselves among 'the co-authors' of the humanitarian catastrophe that they claim they sought to avert."

"West Lies About Cleansing"

Yuri Panov stated in centrist, army Krasnaya Zvezda (4/9): "Belgrade's proposals attest to its good will and belie Western propaganda charges concerning ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. Plans to expand military aggression against Yugoslavia in response to its peace initiatives make the situation even more absurd. NATO finds it increasingly hard to camouflage its aggressive plans."

KAZAKHSTAN: "The Face Of The New World Order"

Independent weekly Novoye Pokoleniye (4/9) concluded: "It is clear that we face the creation of an absolutely new...world order that hides the dangerous seeds of new conflicts that may arise in the next century....

"As a superstate and having considerable military power and an influential military lobby, the United States needs an external enemy whose existence could not only realize Washington's ambitions with regard to democratic leadership but also help Clinton, during the final phase of his presidency, to cover the stain of 'Monicagate' and remain in recent memory as the winner over the 'last communist dictators.'... Events in Yugoslavia reveal that the UN, as one of the regulators of international relations and guarantors of international rights protection, has practically ceased to exist."

NORWAY: "Russia's Big Chance"

Conservative Aftenposten emphasized (4/9): "Russia hasn't exactly taken on an easy job in trying to act as a negotiator between Yugoslavia and NATO to put an end to the air strikes and ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. Russia does not want a confrontation with NATO, and regards the Kosovo situation as an opportunity to increase its influence in European and international politics.... Unfortunately, the tendency has been to ignore Russia's views and arguments ever since Russia fell into deep domestic political and financial trouble.

ROMANIA: "Going Toward The West, On Our Knees"

Under the above headline, leading, independent Adevarul had this view by chief editor Cristian Tudor Popescu (4/9): "Talbott said that 'Belgrade no longer has the authority to rule in Kosovo after all the massacres and crimes they committed.' Incredible. So, because at present Yugoslavia is run by a temporary national-communist dictator who, without NATO's precious help would have been soon gotten rid of by history, the White House wants to separate Kosovo from Serbia... It is obvious that the West no longer cares about God, people, or the law, and wants to turn what is left of the East into a ghetto. Hitler dreamed of transforming these territories into the Reich's 'bloody border,' a
sort of wild reserve where young Aryans could pass the test of manhood by killing a flock of subhumans. Today the West has more refined tastes: Before killing these subhumans, it wants to bring them to their knees and humiliate them forever as a people and as a state.... Romania's problem is not that it doesn't belong to NATO or the EU.... We don't inspire anyone's respect.... The stupid hope of today's government is that if we were to be accepted into NATO, all the vileness and nonsense we have done would be wiped away. The Americans would help us restructure the country.... NATO is nothing but a desperate excuse. Nobody is willing to solve what we ourselves cannot."

"Terrible Shock"

Ion Cristoiu editorialized in opposition Cotidianul (4/8): "For many Romanians, this cruel image of the Westerners (NATO bombing campaign) was a terrible shock. Who would have imagined several decades ago, when we were waiting for the Americans to come and free us, that they would come to Europe not to help the Eastern European countries, but only to bomb them the minute we dare say anything else than: Yes, sir!"

CHINA: "Kosovo Crisis A War Game?"

Xi Mi commented on the opinion page of the official English-language China Daily (4/9): "Like the majority of Chinese, I feel a kind of anger and anguish about the naked aggression by NATO and the pain it is inflicting upon people in Yugoslavia. What upsets me most is that with NATO's superior military power, the Yugoslav people are so vulnerable. It is so unfair. It is so one-sided, it can hardly be called a war.... With its long-time arch-rival gone, the United States has become increasingly assertive in the international arena.... Of course we should have no illusions about such countries. Read their lips carefully when they preach such lofty ideals as human rights and be prepared when they show their teeth."

URUGUAY: "NATO's Complex Dilemma"

Top-circulation, conservative El País told its readers (4/8): "The deportation, or forced transfer, of populations is one of the crimes identified in the Treaty of Rome as being subject to consideration by an international criminal court. The international community has a clear human, legal and political interest in ensuring that these actions are prevented and punished. The main difficulty in accomplishing this objective is to find the appropriate way to do it. Everything seems to indicate that NATO's present strategy is not the most appropriate method to avoid Serbian atrocities and protect Kosovar-Albanian civilians."

 
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