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OneFootInTheGrave
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Kuzelj
Nov 2000
time: 05:25
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/serbia/ar...,868871,00.html
quote:
War crimes tribunal will hear secrets of support for Milosevic's ethnic cleansing
Helena Smith in Athens
Sunday January 5, 2003
The Observer
It is what Hellenes have long feared: the shattering of a conspiracy of silence that has surrounded the role of Greek volunteers who proudly flew their flag at Srebrenica, after participating in Europe's worst massacre since the Second World War, when 7,000 men, women and children died.
Next week, as Greece settles into the presidency of the European Union, Milan Milutinovic, Serbia's recently retired president, will be brought before the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Greek involvement in the atrocity, as well as other secrets Athens would prefer buried, could be revealed when the 60-year-old testifies.
Next week, as Greece settles into the presidency of the European Union, Milan Milutinovic, Serbia's recently retired president, will be brought before the war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Greek involvement in the atrocity, as well as other secrets Athens would prefer buried, could be revealed when the 60-year-old testifies.
No one, it is said, played such a pivotal role in the alliance between Athens and Belgrade during the Nineties Balkan conflicts. As Yugoslavia's ambassador to Greece, Milutinovic was Slobodan Milosevic's most trusted lieutenant. His links with Greece's political, religious and business elites were allegedly crucial to Serbia's secret economic infrastructure. They allowed the country to evade United Nations sanctions and, according to the International Criminal Tribunal, contributed considerably towards Milosevic's war machine.
When the diplomat was promoted to Foreign Minister in 1994, he retained his Athens post for several months when, EU diplomats say, he stashed away funds to buy villas and other prime properties in Athens and Crete at the behest of his boss.
With Greece's admiring public, pro-Serbian church, tolerant media and governments that supported Milosevic, Athens was seen as a bolt-hole by the now disgraced president. As Bosnian Serb ethnic cleansers torched villages, it was here Milosevic would escape to enjoy the hospitality of Greek politicians. Marko Milosevic, his lascivious smuggler son, declared Greece 'my first home'.
'This is our best-kept secret, the subject no politician of any persuasion has ever wanted to broach,' said Takis Michas, author of Unholy Alliance: Greece and Milosevic's Serbia. 'In an era where everyone is saying sorry, in Greece at least no one has shown remorse for the crimes in Bosnia when undoubtedly a significant proportion of the political establishment bear some responsibility.'
The US-published book, yet to be printed in Greek, records in shocking detail the relationship between the two Orthodox nations, including the leaking of Nato military intelligence under socialist leader Andreas Papandreou.
The Greeks know their past may be catching up with them. After last month's long statement of contrition before the Hague tribunal by the former Bosnian Serb leader, Biljana Plavsic, many believe it is only a matter of time before others open up too.
A Dutch documentary investigating Greek complicity in the Serb wars was aired on local television in which a director of the semi-official Athens News Agency, Nikolas Voulelis, admitted to widespread censorship. During the wars the Greek media was fanatically pro-Serb, portraying Yugoslav Muslims as 'infidel Turks' bent on destroying their Orthodox brethren. 'Editorial interference was a given,' he said.
But it was not only hospitality or money that the Greeks offered. Spiritual succour was provided by the Greek Orthodox church which sent priests to the front line (several clerics received bravery medals from Plavsic).
In a step repeated in no other country, Archbishop Serafeim invited the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to visit Athens in 1993. At a mass rally attended by prominent politicians, the indicted war criminal proclaimed: 'We have only God and the Greeks on our side.'
Last year, in a 7,000-page report that the Dutch authorities commissioned into the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, Greece was revealed to have sent shipments of light arms and ammunition to the Bosnian Serb army between 1994 and 1995. The report describes how Greek volunteers were implored, in intercepted army telephone conversations, to raise the Greek flag after the town fell. In one, General Ratko Mladic asked that they record the scene on video for propaganda purposes.
Around 100 soldiers are believed to have joined the Greek Volunteer Guard, formed at Mladic's request. The unit, which fought alongside Russians and Ukrainians, was led by Serb officers and had its own insignia - the double-headed eagle of Byzantium. At least four of its members were awarded the White Eagle medal of honour by Karadzic.
Although their 'heroic' exploits were widely reported in the Greek press, the volunteers have gone to ground since the creation of the war crimes tribunal. No government or party has ever sought an inquiry into their activities.
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To be honest, I never knew Greece gave such support to the Bosnian Serbs. But having a brigade of Greek volunteers in there, now that is interesting. Why would these guys ever want to go in the war and conquer the land for fellow orthodox Serbs. 
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Bereta_Eder
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Nothing else to add, except of course that noone is going to bother Greece even in the slightest and that the Greek policy was of course proven correct in the aftermath (the Balkans are a chaos after NATO's "intervantion").
And also this
quote:
We Created a Monster
Albanian terrorists, armed by the West to fight in Kosovo, are destroying Macedonia, says Canada’s former ambassador to Yugoslavia
JAMES BISSETT
When Canadian pilots joined in the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia in March 1999, we were told by Lloyd Axworthy and Art Eggleton that the intervention in Kosovo was necessary to prevent the violence there from spreading and de-stabilizing the Balkans. Yet we now know that long before the bombing it was NATO countries themselves that were inciting violence in Kosovo and attempting to de-stabilize that Serbian province. Moreover despite the bombing the violence has spread – in Kosovo itself, in southern Serbia, and more recently in Macedonia.
Media reports have revealed that as early as 1998, the central intelligence agency assisted by the British Special Armed Services were arming and training Kosovo Liberation Army members in Albania to foment armed rebellion in Kosovo. The KLA terrorists were sent back into Kosovo to assassinate Serbian mayors, ambush Serbian policemen and do everything possible to incite murder and chaos. The hope was that with Kosovo in flames NATO could intervene and in so doing, not only overthrow Slobodan Milosevic the Serbian strong man, but more importantly, provide the aging and increasingly irrelevant military organization with a reason for its continued existence.
After bombing Yugoslavia into submission, NATO then stood by and submissively allowed the KLA to murder, pillage and burn. The KLA was given a free hand to do as they wished. Almost all of the non-Albanian population was ethnically cleansed from Kosovo under the watchful eyes of 40,000 NATO troops. Moreover, in defiance of United Nations resolution 1244 which brought an end to the fighting, NATO adamantly refused to disarm the KLA fighters. Instead, NATO converted this ragtag band of terrorists into the Kosovo Protection Force – allegedly to maintain peace and order in Kosovo.
To add insult to injury NATO appointed an alleged war criminal, Agim Ceku, as commander of this force. Agim Ceku is an Albanian Kosovar who led the Croatian army in "operation storm" which ethnically cleansed all of the Serbian population from their ancestral lands in Croatia. Some news reports have suggested that there is a sealed indictment against Ceku held by the war crimes tribunal in the Hague but not acted upon because to do so would embarrass his NATO bosses. On june10 of this year the London Times reported that in early march, Agim Ceku ordered 800 KLA reservists from Kosovo to enter Macedonia to help their fellow Albanians in their rebellion against the government there.
Few Albanian nationalists in the Balkans had forgotten that under the fascist and Nazi regimes of the 1940’s, Albania was given control of Kosovo, parts of Macedonia and northern Greece. Those latent dreams of Greater Albania have been given new life by NATO’s policy of encouraging and actively supporting the Albanians of Kosovo to use violence and force to achieve their political goals. It appears our NATO leaders did not realize [or did not care] that by supporting Albanian extremists the scourge of Albanian racism would be unleashed in the Balkans. Now in Macedonia the broader consequences of NATO’s ill-considered intervention in that troubled region of Europe is becoming more evident.
The KLA learned early in the Yugoslavian campaign that NATO countries are unwilling to risk the lives of their soldiers to resolve Balkan problems. It is one thing to bomb targets in Yugoslavia from 15,000 feet with little or no risk to its pilots. It is quite another thing to become involved in armed conflict on the ground against a well-armed and determined enemy.
Confirmation of this was evident when the KLA went into to southern Serbia.
NATO was not prepared to intervene militarily to halt that aggression. It was only when NATO was able to strike a deal with the new democratic powers in Serbia to have Serbian troops restore order in that region that the KLA were stopped.
Thwarted, at least temporarily, in southern Serbia, the KLA then turned its attention to Macedonia and in March started a new military campaign in that country. Their tactics were the same as those used successfully in Kosovo, i.e. assassination, ambush, and intimidation of the local population. Again as in Kosovo the KLA is armed and equipped by western powers. The Macedonian authorities in order to put down the armed rebellion have used the same tactics as employed by the Serbian forces in Kosovo; shelling of villages occupied by KLA fighters with consequent civilian casualties and refugees.
Unlike Kosovo, however, NATO authorities are unable to react to the Macedonian crisis as they did two years earlier in Kosovo because obviously bombing Macedonia is not the answer. Macedonia is not headed by a Slobodan Milosevic and its record of dealing with its Albanian minority is, by Balkan standards, exemplary. The issue is further complicated by the reality that the KLA is NATO’s own creature and continues to be looked upon favorably by its previous masters. There seems little doubt that NATO intends to ensure that Kosovo remains under KLA control.
Even more alarming is the fact that the KLA and its brethren in Macedonia continue to receive assistance and military help from NATO countries. Last month when Macedonian forces were closing in on KLA rebels near the town of Aracinovo, NATO intervened and helped evacuate the KLA fighters. According to German media reports the intervention was ordered because among the KLA forces were 17 American advisors from an American private mercenary organization that has been actively engaged in the Balkans during the Yugoslav wars. It would not do to have had a number of former us military personnel captured along with KLA terrorists.
Although embarrassed by the actions of the KLA in Macedonia NATO has shown no inclination to bring a stop to this naked aggression against a democratic and peaceful nation. To do so would result in armed clashes with the KLA with consequent loss of NATO lives. It would also underline the bankruptcy of NATO’s policy in the Balkans. This is not something that Lord Robertson or our NATO political leaders wish to have highlighted.
Unwilling to confront the KLA the response so far from NATO has been to bring diplomatic pressure on the government of Macedonia forcing it to yield to Albanian demands. The secretary general of NATO, Lord Robertson and the European Union’s foreign minister, Javier Solana have arrived in Skopje to press home NATO’s insistence that Macedonia’s sovereignty must be compromised. In the meantime KLA rebels are reinforcing their forces who have occupied most of western and northern Macedonia. So much for NATO’s dedication to democratic ideals, the rule of law and the peaceful resolution of international disputes.
James Bissett is a former Canadian ambassador to Yugoslavia.
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Ozz
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Canada
Mar 2002
time: 05:25
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quote:
Originally posted by paiktis22
noone is going to bother Greece even in the slightest |
I think he's right on this point
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Ozz
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Canada
Mar 2002
time: 05:25
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quote:
Originally posted by DinoDoc
17N was less signifigant than this new allegation and look how much Greece got bothered by them. |
What is bothered? Embarassed by getting caught?
Have these things cost Greece a dime? Trade sanctions
by the UN would be a bother.
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Dr Strangelove
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I don't get it. The topic of the thread was Greek participation in massacres in Bosnia! Kosovo wasn't even mentioned. Why is paiktis bringing up the topic of Kosovo? Maybe he doesn't have anything to say in defense of the actions of his countrymen in Bosnia?
IIRC the Serbians had already begun terrorizing Kosovars as early as 1996-1997. They stripped the Kosovars of their political rights and even of their property. Even before that Milosevic made it clear that in his Greater Serbia/Yugoslavia non-Serbs would have no rights. That's why the Croatians, Slovones and Macedonians seceeded. They didn't want to be slaves to the Serbs. The Kosovars stayed with the Serbs until the Serbs began to demonstrate exactly what their standing in the new Serbia would be. Their crime is the crime of resisting genocide.
Some of the people who decry the self-defense of the Kosovar people have been outspoken in support of minorities in other parts of the world fighting for self-determination. It is evident that these (this) poster doesn't feel the same way when Orthodox peoples are involved as the persecutors. The funny thing is that these posters have made it clear in the past that they are not very religious at all.
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axi
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Athens Greece
Sep 1999
time: 07:25
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There are fascist scum in Greece too. They are the descendants of a long line of rightwing paramilitaries, junta supporters, commie-hunters and nazi-collaborators. The western imperialists have always been in good terms with them, so why are they surprised that these people were used as mercenaries by Karadjic e.a.? Do not forget that in the early nineties, Greece was undergoing a vast political transition. The Right came to power once again and they immediately raised the flames of nationalism, to divert attention from the economic crisis and chaos that their neoliberal policies were bringing. The whole "Macedonia" issue was brought out of proportion by the domestic rightwingers and when the war in bosnia erupted, many of them judged that the Serbians would win the war and were eager to befriend them. The logic of "natural allies" in the Balkans predominated in the minds of businessmen, politicians and journalists alike, making us think by the standards of the Balkan wars. But then the war was rather distant and the Americans and Germans were not blatantly involved. By the time of the Kosovo war, the Greek public opinion was 100% anti-NATO, while the official govt kept a stance of neutrality, knowing that even after the Milosevic era, the Serbs would rely as heavily on greek capital as they did before.
Personally I think that Milosevic, Karadjic, Mladic, e.a. are no more guilty than their Croat and Bosnian muslim counterparts, the KLA leaders and the NATO :hawks". Every warmonger is essentially the same and they all have their hands soaked in blood and their records full with crimes. The Greek "volunteers" are then no more guilty than the muslims from all over the world that went to fight with the Bosnians and the KLA. This sort of people are something between the Taliban and the French Foreign Legion: they do it for a mix of profit and doctrine, but they are not the sort of thing whole nations and governments should be liable about. I bet many american mercenaries have done that and worse, in the service of dictators in South America, Africa and Asia.
What I do not want to be overlooked is the people behind these "revelations" in Greece. A couple of journalists, a notorious neo-liberal politician, an that's that. Their attitude seems really suspect to me, since they pretty much are chastising the entire greek political scene, left through right, for "siding with a bloody dictator", just weeks before a new attack against a "bloody dictator" is going to be launched. Combine this, which is, politically speaking, a troll against the conservatinve right-wing, along with the "anti-terrorist crusade" against the left, because of the 17N persecutions and you will see that perhaps these people are following an agenda. To have everybody here (and specially the media) succumb to the western, predominantly neo-liberal and new-orderish POV, as the govt arleday has (and always will no doubt). There is already a black list of anti-american journalists published, with the support of the US embassy. Propaganga is at ful swing right now and this lobby is planing to own some media of it's own soon. We can't have people throwing rocks at the NATO vehicles, can we?
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Bereta_Eder
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A nice cemetary indeed.
Is this of the 2.000 children, old women and other civilians murdered by the NATO bombing?
Which was of course done primarily if not solely for the purpose of justifying the existance of that organization?
Maybe you can also give us a nice pic of the thousands of albanians leaving en mass...?
It also started after the bombing.
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Bereta_Eder
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Also did you too see when Albanians were ethnically cleansing Kosovo under the proverbial impassivity of NATO "peacekeeping forces"?
Or did you just look the other way in that particular instance?
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09-01-2003 17:55
MarkG hasn't deleted this thread yet? 
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