Yugoslavia bombings 15 years later: US, NATO aggression in Europe
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Yugoslavia
bombings 15 years later: US, NATO aggression in Europe
Voice of Russia | 24 March 2014
Photo:
EPA
Fifteen years ago a hot spot appeared on
the map of Europe – on March 24, 1999 the air forces of the United States and
NATO started bombing Yugoslavia, which lasted for over two months. The
aggression of the West took the lives of two thousand peaceful civilians.
The North Atlantic Treaty's aggression against Yugoslavia
at the end of the 20th century was one of the final acts of the long-term
campaign of the West against that powerful Balkan state. The bombs and missiles
that fell from the night sky on Belgrade, Pristina and other Serbian cities
completed the formation of the new map of East Europe, said Alexander Bovdunov,
an expert at the Center for Conservative Studies of the Sociology Department of
the Moscow State University, in his interview to the Voice of Russia:
“A seat of tension was created in Europe, which prevented
it from standing up as an independent geopolitical center. And secondly, the
forces that could have become an ally of the Russian world were suppressed and
destroyed. Primarily, it concerned Serbia and the Serbs. It was no accident
that in that conflict the US and Europe it controlled first supported the
Croatians, and then made a decision to destroy the Serbian state, to reduce its
influence in the Balkans by unleashing the conflict around Kosovo.”
One of the main goals of the United States back then was
to demonstrate to the world that it was capable of imposing its will and had
the right to use the territory in any place in Europe. Thus, with Washington's
efforts a quasi-state appeared called the Republic of Kosovo, the role of which
was reduced to one thing – to become yet another military base of the US,
thinks Vasily Kashirin, a senior researcher at the Russian Institute for
Strategic Studies:
“It is a dependable and loyal satellite of the West. The
largest military base on the entire European continent is located there. The
Americans built a real military fortress there. They came there to stay for
decades and have no plans of leaving. From the point of view of the triumph of
the rough American military power, of the American imperialism it is a true
success.”
After splitting the Yugoslavian state into several small
republics and enclaves the West did not stop at that. By its “ballistic
democracy” it created devastation in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya. It was about
to get rid of the unruly Syria, when the mechanism of unipolar influence failed
– Russia stood up in the way of the Euro Atlantic policy, says Vasily Kashirin:
“The global distribution of power in the world has changed.
Russia is no longer as weak as in 1999. And Russia clearly showed that last
year in the course of the Syrian crisis, when Moscow with its rational
diplomacy and position of principles prevented the West from starting military
aggression against Syria.”
Crimea became the next failure of the Euro Atlantic
strategy. The Western community portrays Moscow's desire to protect the
Russian-speaking population of the peninsula from ultranationalists as a
military aggression against Ukraine. Europe considers the results of the
expression of the free will of Crimea’s residents regarding joining Russia to
be violation of the territorial integrity of the Ukrainian state. According to
Vasily Kashirin, such a reaction coming from Western Europe and the US is a reflex
continuation of their policy of double standards. But times have changed and
that policy will never be as effective as it was in the past. It has become too
obvious for the entire world.
In March 1999, at the direction of the United States of
America, NATO engaged in its first act of illegal aggressive war, beginning
what can only be called the “dark age of intervention” in which we are living
today. The fact that NATO was allowed to get away with the aggression on Serbia
and Montenegro emboldened US/NATO and the US military industrial intelligence
banking complex and since that day, under a doctrine of Responsibility to
Protect, Humanitarian Interventionism, Preventive War and then the all
encompassing “War on Terror”, US/NATO have proceeded to destroy country after
country and do away with leaders that they have not found to be submissive
enough to their will.
The events of 9-11-2001 were a watershed moment for the
geopolitical architects and served as a catalyst to allow them to expand their
military machine to every corner of the world and invade countries at will and
conduct operations with complete disregard for international law and accepted
international norms.
In light of the 15th Anniversary of the NATO aggression
the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals and other independent Civic
associations in Serbia will hold an international conference from the 21st to
the 24th of March 2014. The conference will gather 100 prominent intellectuals
from all over the world, in addition to those from Serbia, Montenegro, the
Republica Srpska and 10 to 15 guests from Russia, including Academician and
retired Russian Army General Leonid Ivashov. The conference will also include
the participation of the Veterans Alliance of Serbia and the Club of Generals
and Admirals of Serbia.
The President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals
and the last Foreign Minister of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Zivadin
Jovanovic wrote the following summary of the events in light of the 15 year
anniversary of the NATO aggression against Yugoslavia. (John Robles)
Do Not Forget, by Zivadin Jovanovic
Fifteen years have passed since the beginning of NATO
aggression against Serbia and Montenegro (24 March 1999). This aggression
resulted in the loss of 4,000 human lives, including 88 children, and 10,000
people were severely wounded. Over two third of these victims were civilians.
How many human lives have been lost in the meantime due to the consequences of
weapons with depleted uranium, as well as of remaining cluster bombs, will
hardly ever be established.
Breaching the basic norms of international law, its own
founding act as well as constitutions of member countries, NATO was bombing
Serbia and Montenegro during 78 days continuously destroying the economy,
infrastructure, public services, radio and TV centers and transmitters,
cultural and historical monuments. NATO bears responsibility for polluting the
environment and endangering the health of present and future generations.
Economic damage caused by the aggression is estimated at over USD 120 billion.
War damage compensation has not yet been claimed, and judgments ruled by our
court, by which the leaders of aggressor countries were convicted for the
crimes against peace and humanity, were annulled after the coup d’état in 2000.
Governments of aggressor countries seized and occupied
the Province of Kosovo and Metohija, and then formally delivered it to former
terrorists, separatists and international organized crime bosses. An American
military base was established in the Province – “Bondstill”, one of the largest
beyond the U.S. territory.
After the aggression, over 250,000 Serbs and other
non-Albanians have been forced out the Province of Kosovo and Metohija; even
today, 15 years later they are not allowed to return freely and safely to their
homes. Ethnic cleansing and even drastic change of ethnic population structure
are tolerated by so called international community if only to the detriment of
Serbs. The remaining Serbian population in the Province of about 120.000
continues to live in fear and uncertainty. Attacks upon Serbs, detentions and
killings, including liquidations of their political leaders, have been
continuing up to these days, and nobody is held responsible.
NATO aggression against Serbia and Montenegro (FRY) in
1999 is a crime against peace and humanity. It is a precedent and a turning
point towards global interventionism, arbitrary violation of the international
legal order and the negation of the role of the UN. The “Bondstill” military
base is the first and crucial ring in the chain of new American military bases
reflecting strategy of expansion towards East, Caspian Basin, Middle East,
towards Russia and its Siberia natural resources. Europe has thus got overall
militarization and the new edition of the strategy “Drang nach Osten” (“Thrust
to the East”). Destabilization and the tragic developments in Ukraine are just
the most recent consequence of that strategy.
15 years after objectives of US/NATO military aggression
continue to be pursued by other means. Serbia has been blackmailed to de facto
recognize illegal secession of its Province of Kosovo and Metohija through so
called Brussels negotiations. The most of the puppet states of the former
Yugoslavia are much dependant on and indebted to the leading NATO/EU countries,
their financial institutions and corporations so that they could hardly be
considered independent states but rather neo-colonies. There is no stability in
the Balkans, redrawing of borders has not ended, overall situation is dominated
by devastated economy, unemployment, social tensions and misery. Europe,
particularly its south-east regions, are experiencing profound economic, social
and moral crisis.
Preparations for NATO military aggression against Serbia
and Montenegro (FRY) and 1999 aggression itself have been used in the meantime
as a blueprint for many other NATO aggressions and occupations - Afghanistan,
Iraq, Libya, Mali and so on. Wherever NATO undertook “humanitarian intervention”,
like in former Yugoslavia, it left thousands of dead and mutilated, millions of
refugees and displaced persons, ethnic and religious divisions, terrorism and
separatism, economic disaster and social misery. NATO expansionist strategy
made Europe militarized. There are more US/NATO military bases in Europe today
than at the peak of the Cold War era. What for? NATO imperial expansionist
strategy has provoked new arms race with unforeseen consequences. Who really
needs an organization threatening global peace and stability?
During and after the aggression, 150 Serb monasteries and
churches built in the Middle Ages were destroyed. Killed or abducted were some
3,500 Serbs and other non-Albanians, and fates of many of them have not been
established until today. Not even one of the thousands of crimes against Serbs
in Kosovo and Metohija got a court clarification. Even such terrorist crimes as
was blowing up the “Nis-express” bus on 16 February 2001, when 12 people were
killed and 43 wounded, neither the murder of 14 Serb farmers reaping in the
field in Staro Gracko, on 23 July 2009 remained without thorough investigation,
be it by UNMIK, be it by EULEX, or by any other of so many structures of the so
called international community.
The Swiss senator, Dick Marty, revealed documented report
on trafficking in human organs of Serbs abducted in Kosovo and Metohija. The
Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the oldest European democratic
institution, adopted his Report as the official CE document. Although all factors
stand verbally for an efficient investigation and bringing the perpetrators to
justice, for many years now there have been no results whatsoever. The
documentation on human organ trafficking submitted to The Hague Tribunal had
been – destroyed!
The Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals, with support of
other non-partisan and independent associations from Serbia, from the region
and from the Serb Diaspora throughout the world, are organizing a number of
activities under the common title “NOT TO FORGET”, with the aim to remind
domestic and international public of human loss, destructions and other
consequences of NATO aggression.
On Friday, 21 March 2014 at 6 p.m., in Sava Conference
Centre, Belgrade (Milentija Popovica No. 1) an opening ceremony will launch a
photographic exhibition presenting consequences of NATO aggression.
On Saturday, March 22 and on Sunday, March 23rd, 2014,
International conference “Global Peace vs. Global Interventionism and
Imperialism” will be held (Sava Conference Centre. Conference starts at 10 a.m.
Some 100 prominent personalities from all over the world have confirmed their
participation.
On Monday, March 24th, 2014, at 09.30 a.m., the
International Memorial Marathon Belgrade-Hilandar will start in front of Saint
Sava Church.
The same day, at 11 am, civic associations,
representatives of Serb Diaspora, guests from abroad and individuals will lay
flowers at the monument to children - victims of the aggression, in the
Tašmajdan park, and the same day at 12 a.m. flowers will be laid at the
Monument to all victims of the aggression, Friendship park, Ušće, New Belgrade.
On March 24, Serbia and Montenegro are observing the sad
anniversary of NATO air strikes against former Yugoslavia. On that day 15 years
ago, NATO launched a US-led massive bombing campaign in an operation codenamed
Allied Force, which lasted 78 days.
The collapse of the Rambouillet talks on Kosovo and
Serbia’s rejection of an external peacekeeping force as it actually meant
foreign invasion served as the formal pretext for the bombings. For over two
months, NATO aircraft and warships were pouring tons of air bombs and cruise
missiles almost daily on industrial, infrastructure and other facilities
throughout Serbia and Montenegro.
Nineteen NATO member states took part in the operation
which went ahead without the approval of the UN Security Council after a mass
grave was found in the village of Racak in Kosovo, where the bodies of dozens
of Albanian civilians allegedly killed by Serbian troops were said to have been
dumped. Later it turned out that it was a “hoax” cooked up by Western secret
services. Most of the bodies in the Racak grave were militants of the so-called
Kosovo Liberation Army, who had died in clashes with Yugoslav police in various
parts of Kosovo.
NATO delivered a total of 2,300 air strikes on 995
targets during its 11-week bombing campaign, according to Serbian sources. Some
1,150 NATO warplanes were involved in the operation. More than 420,000 shells
weighing a total of 22,000 tones hit former Yugoslavia, including 20,000 heavy
aviation bombs, 1,300 cruise missiles and 37,000 pellet bombs, most of them
stuffed with depleted uranium.
More than 2,000 civilians and 1,000 servicemen were
killed in the bombings and over 5,000 others were wounded. Serbia’s defense
industry was completely destroyed along with 1,500 villages, 60 bridges,
one-third of schools and about 100 historical and cultural monuments.
Serbian experts estimated the damage from NATO’s Allie
Force operation at between $60 billion and $100 billion.
The use of depleted uranium shells pushed radiation
levels in southern Serbia, especially in Kosovo and Metohija, above the
permissible norm and drove cancer rates up.
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