10 October 2002 Afternoon Edition

Kosovo Stories

· Serb hard-line leader charged with leading violent protest in Kosovo (AP)
· Daci rules out parliamentary debate on Steiner's plan (BETA)
· Ivanovic released on bail (B92)
· UN Observer Mission Expected to leave Prevlaka by Year's End (Balkan Times)
· Prozess gegen serbische Sonderpolizisten (Süddeutsche Zeitung)

Regional News

Serbia

· Yugoslav president denies reports of air defence help to Iraq (AP)
· Voter apathy could scupper Serbian presidency poll (Reuters)
· Kostunica says he's confident of Election victory… (AP)
· Serbia Election drama heads into farce (BBC)
· Party of Milosevic's wife urges boycott of elections (FoNet)

Milosevic Indictment

· Milosevic attorney barred by war crimes court (AFP)
· Court fires lawyer assigned to protect Milosevic (AP)
· Milosevic's lawyer dismissed for media comments (Reuters)
· Verhängnisvolles Muster (Taz die Tageszeitung)

Other Reports

· Why NATO should call Bush's Bluff (The Guardian)

Serb hard-line leader charged with leading violent protest in Kosovo

By GARENTINA KRAJA

PRISTINA, Yugoslavia (AP) _ An international judge charged a Serb hard-line leader wanted by the U.N. authorities in Kosovo with a serious crime, a senior official said Thursday.

Milan Ivanovic was charged for leading a violent demonstration in the Serb-dominated part of Kosovska Mitrovica, an ethnic flashpoint some 45 kilometers (25 miles) north of the province's capital, Pristina, said Clint Williamson, the head of the U.N.-run Justice Department in Kosovo.

After hearings, the Serb leader was released on bail, the official said. If convicted, he could face up to 10 years in prison.

Ivanovic surrendered to U.N. police on Wednesday, two months after an initial attempt by NATO-led peacekeepers and police to arrest him failed.

An international prosecutor issued an arrest warrant in August for Ivanovic, charging him with an attempted murder in connection with an April 8 riot in Kosovska Mitrovica, a city deeply divided between ethnic Albanians and Serbs and a scene of frequent clashes.

Some 22 officers _ mainly Polish _ serving with the U.N. police force were injured by grenades in that riot. About a dozen Serb civilians also were injured.

Ivanovic's charge was reduced after hearings in which witnesses were heard and evidence was presented, Williamson said in a statement.

U.N. officials earlier had said they had video footage showing Ivanovic throwing an object believed to be a hand grenade.

Local media reported Thursday that Ivanovic's lawyers presented six tapes from the riots in court to show that Ivanovic did not throw a grenade at police.

Serb officials suggested the reduction of charges was part of a deal that secured Ivanovic's surrender and granted him assurances that he would remain free during the trial.

The United Nations and NATO have run Kosovo since June 1999, when the alliance pushed out Serb-dominated forces loyal to former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for their crackdown on ethnic Albanians struggling for independence.
Milosevic now is being tried by the U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Netherlands for his alleged role in atrocities committed in Kosovo and elsewhere in the Balkans over the past decade.

Daci rules out parliamentary debate on Steiner's plan

PRISTINA - (BETA)- Kosovo Parliament speaker Nedzat Daci has ruled out possibility of a parliamentary debate on UNMIK chief Michael Steiner's plan for the segregated town of Kosovska Mitrovica.

Daci said that the plan was "theoretically acceptable" but that it called for great efforts in its implementation. The people also need some explanations, what the plan means, what are its advantages and downsides, he said.

The Parliament speaker pointed out "the Presidency of the Kosovo Parliament has backed Steiner's plan in principle because it has been accepted by the whole of the international community". Daci said that the part of the Kosovo population demanding additional explanations concerning the plan could also be backed, but added that Steiner "is always open to additional objections and suggestions".

Ivanovic released on bail

KOSOVSKA MITROVICA -(B92)- After 14 hours of questioning and with a bail set at 10 thousand Euros, the Kosovska Mitrovica District Court released head of the Serb National Council Milan Ivanovic pending trial. Having been summonsed by the Court, Ivanovic showed up at the local police station yesterday morning in the company of Coordination centre for Kosovo head Nebojsa Covic.

Lawyer Toma Fila told press that Ivanovic will not be tried for attempted murder that he had been originally charged with, but for causing disorder. Ivanovic is accused of organizing the riots in Kosovska Mitrovica on April 8 this year when an international policemen was killed in clashes between Serbs and UNMIK.

Leaving the District Court Milan Ivanovic told press that the wrongs have been redressed. "The questioning before the court was very difficult, but they really treated me correctly. I repeatedly told them that the incident I am being held responsible for had been unnecessarily caused, and that it was caused by the UNMIK police who used excessive force", said Ivanovic.

He also said that the Kosovska Mitrovica Court decision proves that things are improving in the province: "The earlier decision on Steva Zigic's release and I hope one on Slavoljub Jovic's release soon, show that things are changing for the better and that there is room for hope", said Ivanovic.

Covic pointed out the importance of Belgrade's joint stance on the indictment against Milan Ivanovic. "We did well in resolving a problem that was forced on us. There was no need for tensions. I am glad that Belgrade was united over this issue", said Covic.

UN Observer Mission Expected to Leave Prevlaka by Year's End

Balkan Times

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said Tuesday (8 October) that the UN observer mission in the Prevlaka peninsula (UNMOP) could end by mid-December, allowing for complete withdrawal by year's end. The mission's current mandate expires on 15 October. As Yugoslavia and Croatia are expected to resolve their long-standing dispute over the peninsula within the next two months, Annan advised the Security Council to extend UNMOP's mandate until 15 December.

"It is my assessment that the closure of another chapter in the tumultuous recent history of the Balkans is within reach,'' Annan said in a report the 15-nation council is due to discuss Thursday. The UN recognises Prevlaka as belonging to Croatia, but wants the two states to find a solution.

With 27 military observers, UNMOP is the smallest UN mission. It was established in January 1996 to monitor the demilitarisation of the strategic peninsula. The observer mission succeeded the UN Confidence Restoration Operation (UNCRO), which in turn was a continuation of the UN Protection Force (UNPROFOR) established in October 1992.

The Prevlaka peninsula in the Adriatic Sea is located some 45 kilometres southeast of the Croatian city of Dubrovnik. It borders Yugoslavia and controls access to that country's naval base at the Kotor Inlet. Although the dispute centres on the common border, Yugoslavia and Croatia have both said it is not over territory, but rather security issues.
"Prevlaka is neither a territorial nor a political issue any longer, but a psychological one," Yugoslav Foreign Minister Goran Svilanovic said in April during a visit by his Croatian counterpart, Tonino Picula, to Belgrade. He added that the dispute should be buried in the past as soon as possible. In Picula's view, there is no longer any particular reason for continued UN observation in Prevlaka.

"I am convinced that the parties will be able, in the near future, to narrow their remaining differences to the point where the presence of UNMOP is no longer needed," Annan said in the report, noting that during their two recent meetings, Svilanovic and Picula had made considerable progress on a range of issues, including border-crossing arrangements.
"Croatia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia are about to take another step towards normal, good-neighbourly relations," he said, expressing confidence in their determination to resolve the dispute, as they "share a common approach on key aspects" of an accord. Explaining his recommendation for a final extension of UNMOP's mandate, Annan noted that the area had remained calm and stable for a long time, and that the mission could end before the 15 December deadline in the event an agreement was reached in the meantime.

Prozess gegen serbische Sonderpolizisten

Süddeutsche Zeitung

kü Belgrad - In Serbien hat der Prozess gegen zwei ehemalige Sonderpolizisten begonnen, die im Kosovo während der Nato- Bombenangriffe 1999 ein Kriegsverbrechen an Zivilisten begangen haben sollen.

Der 27-jährige Sasa Cvjetin wies vor dem Gericht in der südserbischen Stadt Prokuplje die Anklage zurück, in Podujevo auf eigene Faust mehrere Albaner, darunter Frauen und Kinder, erschossen zu haben.

Gegen seinen flüchtigen Mitangeklagten Dejan Demirovic wird in Abwesenheit verhandelt. Von den Opfern waren nur vier noch während des Krieges identifiziert worden.

Inzwischen erhielt das Gericht von der UN-Administration des Kosovo weitere elf Obduktionsberichte. Der Staatsanwalt kündigte Zeugenaussagen von Angehörigen der so genannten Antiterroristischen Sondereinheit (SAJ) sowie von einer Albanerin an, die überlebt hat.

In Begleitung des Belgrader Kosovo- Regierungsbeauftragten Nebojsa Covic stellte sich unterdessen in Kosovska Mitrovica ein radikaler Kosovo-Serbenführer der UN-Polizei. Milan Ivanovic, der letzten April bei Unruhen in der Stadt eine Bombe geworfen haben soll, hatte sich zwei Monate lang einer Verhaftung entzogen.

Yugoslav president denies reports of air defense help to Iraq

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) _ The Yugoslav president denied Thursday reports that Serbian military experts are helping Saddam Hussein organize his air defense during possible U.S. attacks.

But Vojislav Kostunica did not entirely rule out that some individuals may have made private arrangements with the Iraqis.

``That kind of official cooperation existed before'' during Slobodan Milosevic's regime, Kostunica told The Associated Press, referring to the former Yugoslav president now on trial at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. ``I'm sure it does not exist now.''

``But anything to do with weapons is a lucrative challenge for some people,'' Kostunica added. ``Even the Americans uncovered some of their own citizens (fighting for the Taliban) in Afghanistan.''

British and Yugoslav media have alleged that an unidentified number of radar and weapons systems experts are helping the Iraqis in organizing air defenses based on the experience they had in Yugoslavia during the 1999 NATO air strikes on the Balkan country.

Even though outdated, the Yugoslav air defense performed exceptionally well, protecting military targets in Kosovo and shooting down two U.S. jets, including an F-117 Nighthawk, the world's first operational ``stealth'' attack plane.

During Milosevic's reign until October 2000, Yugoslavia had maintained close military links with Hussein's regime, servicing Iraqi air force MIG jets near Belgrade and taking part in the construction of Iraqi military facilities, including bunkers in Saddam's presidential palaces in Baghdad.

The Yugoslav Army this week denied continued military aid to the Iraqis, saying the country's intention is not to help Hussein's hard-line regime, but forge close ties with NATO.

Voter apathy could scupper Serbian presidency poll

By Fredrik Dahl

BELGRADE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - Serbia votes on Sunday in a run-off election to choose its first president since the ouster of Slobodan Milosevic, but voter apathy could scupper the poll and throw the Balkan state into deeper political disarray.

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist critical of government pro-market reforms praised by the West, is the favourite in the October 13 poll. He faces liberal economist Miroljub Labus, a champion of the reforms.

The two politicians, ex-allies in the disparate coalition that toppled Milosevic in 2000 but has since split up in acrimony, came out ahead among 11 candidates in a first round of voting two weeks ago but failed to win outright.

The big question this time is whether at least half the 6.55 million electorate, needed to make the vote valid, will cast ballots. Only 55.5 percent turned out on September 29 and the ultra-nationalist who came third has since urged a boycott.

Reflecting the view of many, political analyst Ognjen Pribicevic said he saw two possible outcomes -- a win for Kostunica, looking for a new job as Yugoslavia is to be replaced by a looser union of Serbia and Montenegro, or an invalid vote.

``The chances are 50-50,'' Pribicevic said.

Should Kostunica triumph, political turbulence seems inevitable as he has vowed to force the government from office.

But Western diplomats fear the uncertainty caused by an invalid vote would be far worse for Yugoslavia's dominant republic as it struggles to recover after a decade of bloodshed and international isolation under Milosevic.

If the turnout threshold is not reached, the election would have to be conducted again, as happened in Serbia's last presidential vote five years ago. But domestic legislation fails to make clear when or how many times it can be repeated.

``We should turn out at the elections to prevent Serbia from definitely sliding into chaos and anarchy,'' Kostunica has said.

SAME CANDIDATES AGAIN?
It remains unclear whether Kostunica and Labus would be willing to run again to replace incumbent Milan Milutinovic.

Milutinovic, the last ally of Milosevic still to hold such a position of power, is expected to surrender to the U.N. war crimes tribunal and join his ex-boss there. Milutinovic is charged with responsibility for atrocities committed against Kosovo Albanians in 1999.
Labus is an ally of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, whose government has won strong Western backing for its work to revive the economy, shaped by socialism and shattered by war.

Kostunica, who demands new parliamentary elections, has accused his rival of uncritically accepting the demands of financial institutions like the International Monetary Fund and of ignoring hardships the reforms cause ordinary people.

Kostunica, 58, is expected to have a clear edge on Sunday as most of the nine other first-round candidates were nationalists whose supporters are more likely to switch to him than to Labus.

The law professor won just under 31 percent in the first round while Labus, Yugoslavia's 55-year-old deputy prime minister, scored 3.5 percentage points less.

Hardline Radical Party leader Vojislav Seselj, who came third with more than 23 percent, dealt a blow to Kostunica's presidential prospects last week by calling for a boycott.

Kostunica says he's confident of election victory, if turnout high enough to make vote valid

By DUSAN STOJANOVIC

BELGRADE, Yugoslavia (AP) _ Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica said Thursday he was confident he would triumph over a pro-Western challenger in Serbia's presidential elections, but warned of possible chaos if the voting is declared invalid due to low turnout.

Kostunica, a moderate nationalist with pro-democratic views, is pitted against Miroljub Labus, a pro-Western Yugoslav deputy prime minister, in Sunday's runoff election for the president of Serbia.

Kostunica is running because his present post will be abolished due to wide-ranging constitutional reforms revamping Yugoslavia and renaming it Serbia and Montenegro, after the two Yugoslav republics.

In the Sept. 29 first round, Kostunica won more votes than Labus. But public opinion researchers predict that the turnout in the runoff might be less than the required 50 percent of the electorate. That would lead to the who election being annulled and rerun within two months.

Coming in third in the opening round of the Serbian presidential race was a Milosevic ally, ultranationalist Vojislav Seselj. Seselj had Milosevic's backing from his prison cell at the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands, which is trying him for alleged war crimes committed in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia over the past decade.

Seselj, who holds some of the same Serb supremacist views fanned by Milosevic to stoke the Balkan wars, could get another chance to run for the presidency if the vote is declared invalid and another vote is held.

``I'm optimistic the difference from the first round between me and Mr. Labus can only be extended,'' Kostunica told The Associated Press. ``Now, the turnout is what matters. I hope enough of people will come out and vote.''

Kostunica advocates cautious reforms of an economy shattered by former President Slobodan Milosevic's regime, taking into account the low living standards of the majority. Labus, an economic expert with close ties to Western governments, supports swift reforms during the transition period.

Labus is close to Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic, Kostunica's chief rival. Djindjic and Kostunica have been arguing over the pace and style of reforms in Serbia since the two jointly ousted Milosevic in October 2000.

Kostunica has promised to bring down Djindjic's government in case he becomes Serbian president and proclaim new elections early next year for Serbia's parliament, which is now dominated by Djindjic's allies.

In the interview, Kostunica accused Djindjic of covertly working on the boycott of the runoff vote, ``to buy time ... and by all means preserve power, which is very similar to what Milosevic did in the past.''

Kostunica said that in case the vote is declared invalid, Serbia would enter a period of ``instability, tensions and chaos.''

He said that constitutional reform and revamping Yugoslavia into the planned union between Serbia _ now the dominant Yugoslav republic _ and Montenegro would be in jeopardy in case Serbia does not elect a president.

``Reforms in Serbia are not possible with the current Milosevic constitution,'' Kostunica said.

Kostunica also accused Djindjic's government of allegedly neglecting economic and other ties with Russia, China and the third world countries in favor of the United States.

Serbia election drama heads into farce

By Alix Kroeger

BBC Europe reporter

Serbia's presidential elections are showing every sign of turning from political drama into black farce. There is a real risk that turnout for the second round on Sunday will fail to reach the required 50%. That would invalidate the result, leaving Serbia without a president and the government in no-man's-land.

Extreme nationalist Vojislav Seselj has called on his supporters to boycott the second round. Mr Seselj came third in the first round and so has been eliminated from the contest. But with 23% of the vote, he is too powerful to be ignored.

Indicted
Sunday's vote is a run-off between the top two candidates: Yugoslav president Vojislav Kostunica, a moderate nationalist, and Serbian deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus, an economic reformer popular with the West.

Technically there was no need for new elections until the end of the year, when the term of the current Serbian president, Milan Milutinovic, runs out. Mr Milutinovic is indicted for war crimes in Kosovo but is immune from prosecution as long as he remains in office.
So why now? Why call a vote ahead of schedule?

First of all, there is the power struggle between Mr Kostunica, President of Yugoslavia, and Zoran Djindjic, Prime Minister of Serbia. Earlier this year the covert feud between them broke into the open, when Mr Kostunica's group of deputies was expelled from the Serbian parliament.

Mr Djindjic's man, Miroljub Labus, was doing well in the polls. An economist by training, he had helped to negotiate the constitutional charter replacing the old Yugoslav federation with a new, looser union of Serbia and Montenegro. Under that charter - which has not yet been ratified - Mr Kostunica's present job will disappear. Mr Djindjic judged this as a good time to defeat his rival, once and for all.

And then there is the feel-good factor - sort of. Serbia has fallen on hard times: inflation continues to rise, while wages, at best, stand still. In particular, electricity prices have gone up by around 150% in the past two years, since Mr Djindjic's government took power.

Mood factor
It is not too fanciful to say that people are in a better mood when the weather is warm, rather than in winter, when they are cooped up in their flats, cold, miserable and worried about the cost of putting the heating on. All these elements gave Mr Djindjic reason to go to the polls early.
But events haven't unfolded as planned. Turnout was low: around 55%. Mr Kostunica won the largest share of the votes. Mr Labus came second, only four per cent ahead of Mr Seselj. In the wake of the results, several of the smaller parties announced that they would call on their supporters to boycott the second round. By far the most important of these was Mr Seselj's Serbian Radical Party (SRS).

If the second round does fall below the 50% threshhold, it is back to square one, and a whole new round of elections will have to be held. Then, one theory goes, things could be very different for Mr Djindjic.

Knock out
It is possible that the voters would be angry with Mr Djindjic for having wasted their time and money on early elections. They would punish his candidate, Mr Labus, at the polls, leaving Mr Kostunica (a moderate nationalist) and Mr Seselj (an extreme nationalist) to go through to the second round. Mr Labus' supporters would then have to hold their noses and vote for Mr Kostunica, because the alternative would be unthinkable. In effect, it would be like the French elections, in which Jean-Marie Le Pen of the far-right National Front went through to the second round against the centre-right candidate, Jacques Chirac.

And just as Mr Le Pen represented people who felt their voices were not being heard by the mainstream political parties, so Mr Seselj is tapping into a deep vein of frustration in Serbia. Mr Djindjic and Mr Labus are pro-Western reformers.

Greater Serbia
They want to put Serbia's economy in order and improve its external relations. But for the majority of people, the reforms necessary for this have failed to deliver any improvements to their own lives. In many cases, things have actually got worse.

In contrast, Mr Seselj promises to protect the interests of his people. He offers them Serbian nationalism and the comfort of the Orthodox church. He is vehemently opposed to privatization.

And he promises to look after the interests of all Serbs, especially those from Kosovo who have been displaced since Belgrade effectively lost control of the province three years ago. Mr Seselj's website still uses the term "Greater Serbia" but he is careful to avoid any mention of borders, speaking instead of uniting all Serbs. This is nationalism, but not a return to the wars which blighted the former Yugoslavia during the 1990s.

New face of nationalism
In this sense, it is not unlike the Bosnian elections last weekend, where moderate, pro-Western governing coalition lost out to conservative nationalist parties.

Two years ago, Mr Djindjic and Mr Kostunica took power on a wave of popular protests which culminated in the peaceful removal of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic.
But the promise of that moment has not been fulfilled, and across the region, people are turning away from reform as demanded by the international community. Instead they are looking to the parties who pledge to look after their own people. It may be that nationalism in the Balkans is assuming a new face: no longer about territorial expansion, but rather a conservative populist movement, which promises economic improvements - but along ethnic lines.

Party of Milosevic's wife urges boycott of elections

BELGRADE --FoNet- The Yugoslav Left, led by former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's wife Mirjana Markovic, has called on all patriotically oriented citizens of Yugoslavia and Serbia to boycott the second round of Serbian presidential elections.

Yugoslav Left's leadership believes that by not going to the polls, the people of Serbia would "clearly withdraw their support to false democrats and false fighters for realization of national interests -Serbian presidential candidates Miroljub Labus and Vojislav Kostunica - because behind us are two years of lies, all-encompassing and obvious defrauding of the people as well as total destruction of common sense," said the party statement.

Milosevic attorney barred by warcrimes court

THE HAGUE, Oct 10 (AFP) - One of the three court-appointed lawyers assisting Slobodan Milosevic at his war crimes trial has been banned by the UN court, a spokesman told AFP on Thursday.

Dutch lawyer Michail Wladimiroff, who caused controversy by telling a local paper Milosevic would be found guilty if the trial ended right away, was given the sack by the court.

He was one of a trio of lawyers appointed to aid the former Yugoslav president, who opted to defend himself when the trial began and who has heaped scorn on the court's legitimacy.

Milosevic is facing a battery of serious charges including genocide in connection with the 1990s wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo which ripped apart the former Yugoslavia.
He faces life in prison if convicted.

Court fires lawyer assigned to protect Milosevic's interests

By DANIELA VALENTA

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) _ The U.N. war crimes tribunal Thursday dismissed a Dutch lawyer assigned to protect the interests of Slobodan Milosevic in his war crimes trial, saying the attorney's impartiality was in doubt.

Michail Wladimiroff was one of three defense attorneys appointed as ``friends of the court'' to help ensure that the former Yugoslav president gets a fair trial.

Milosevic is defending himself against 66 counts of war crimes in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia allegedly committed during the 1990s.

Last week, Wladimiroff apologized to the court for remarks in Dutch and Bulgarian publications quoting him as saying he believed Milosevic could be found guilty.

Milosevic demanded that he be disqualified from the trial, saying it would be ``inexcusable'' for Wladimiroff to continue.

Speaking between the appearance of two witnesses Thursday, presiding judge Richard May announced his ruling that Wladimiroff had lost the trust of the court, and he had asked for the lawyer's removal.

May said the judges cannot be confident that Wladimiroff ``will discharge his duties with the required impartiality,'' and he had asked the tribunal's registrar ``to revoke his appointment.''

Wladimiroff was not at the table alongside his two colleagues when May read the ruling.
A tribunal spokesman said it is up to the registrar, the tribunal's chief administrative officer, to decide whether Wladimiroff will be replaced.

The friends of the court are allowed to raise motions beneficial to Milosevic and to question witnesses. But they are not part of the defense team and do not directly assist Milosevic in his defense strategy.

Wladimiroff is one of the veteran defense attorneys at the U.N. tribunal, and was on the defense team of the court's first defendant, Dusko Tadic.

The tribunal was created by the Security Council in 1993 to prosecute war crimes committed in the Balkans during the violent break-up of Yugoslavia beginning two years earlier.

In the hearing last week, Wladimiroff said some of his remarks appearing in the press were ``edited interpretations'' and were ``not what I said.''
He expressed regret for speaking to the reporters, but argued that his comments did not threaten the fairness of the trial and that he should be allowed to continue.

Milosevic lawyer dismissed for media comments

THE HAGUE, Oct 10 (Reuters) - A Dutch lawyer tasked with ensuring Slobodan Milosevic gets a fair trial was dismissed on Thursday after being quoted in the media as casting doubt on the former Yugoslav president's chances of acquittal.

Judges ordered that Dutchman Michail Wladimiroff lose his status as one of three ``friends of the court'' U.N. judges appointed for Milosevic's trial at the Hague war crimes tribunal, saying he could no longer be perceived as free from bias.

Wladimiroff gave an interview to a Dutch local newspaper last month in which he was quoted as saying that prosecutors had by now produced enough evidence to secure a conviction on Kosovo -- one of the three indictments against Milosevic.

Soon afterwards, Wladimiroff was quoted in a Bulgarian magazine as saying that Milosevic's chances of acquittal were ``negligible.''

Verhängnisvolles Muster

TAZ die Tageszeitung

betr.: "Frieden braucht Wahrheit" (Serbiens Milosevic und Kroatiens Mesic vor dem UN-Tribunal), Kommentar von Erich Rathfelder, taz vom 5. 10. 02

Trafen mit Mesic und Milosevic vor dem UN-Tribunal wirklich zwei so unterschiedliche Denkrichtungen aufeinander? Mesic war jahrelang ein treuer Handlanger Tudjmans, der schon während des Ausbruchs des Krieges in Kroatien 1991 als letzter nomineller Staatspräsident des alten Jugoslawien - und somit als Oberfehlshaber der Armee (JNA) - propagandistisch und kriegsfördernd agierte. Kroatien nahm damals alle Mittel in Kauf, die Jugoslawien zerstören sollten, und opferte (nach professioneller Beratung durch amerikanische PR-Firmen) sogar Vukovar, um internationale Anerkennung zu finden.

Jahre nach dem Zerfall Jugoslawiens haben sich Völkerrechtsexperten mehr oder minder darauf geeinigt, dass die Sezession beziehungsweise Anerkennung Kroatiens völkerrechtswidrig und mitverantwortlich für den Ausbruch des Krieges war. Mesic rühmte sich damals damit, mit der Auflösung des alten Jugoslawien sein Werk vollendet zu haben.

Die Kriegsschuld lässt sich weder mit dem Abfeuern der ersten Gewehrsalve begründen noch über Kausalketten, die bei allen Kriegsparteien weit in die Vergangenheit reichen. Der entscheidende Gesichtspunkt ist die böse Absicht, die sich so schwer festmachen ließ. Weil dies so spekulativ ist und weil die Medien in ihrem Streben nach Verkürzung schnelle Schuldsprüche fällen, sind "die Serben" auf die Anklagebank gedrängt worden. Jahrelang wurde diese Schwarzweißmalerei effektiv genutzt, unter anderem von Herrn Rathfelder - wie in diesem Kommentar.

Mesic halbherziges Anprangern der eigenen, kroatischen Kriegsverbrechen vor dem UN-Tribunal ist taktisch klug, doch ihm so per se den Heiligenschein aufzusetzen und seine Mitschuld am Krieg außen vor zu lassen, ist nicht nur unkritisch, sondern auch eine Verkehrung historischer Tatsachen.

Wo bleibt die Kritik an der Vertreibung von hunderttausenden Serben aus Kroatien, die bis heute nicht zurückkehren konnten in die "ethnisch gesäuberten" Gebiete?

Auch dies war ein bewusstes politisches Ziel kroatischer Politik, die von Mesic als Parlamentspräsident Kroatiens mitgetragen wurde. Bis heute stellen die Serben die ethnische Gruppe mit den meisten Vertriebenen auf dem Gebiet des ehemaligen Jugoslawien dar. Das ist eine historische Tatsache, Herr Rathfelder, und Milosevic wird solange abblocken, die "eigenen" Fehler und Verbrechen nicht eingestehen, solange das UN-Tribunal ebendiesen Besitzanspruch auf die "Wahrheit" für sich zu erheben scheint, denn den gibt es nicht. Sie liegt meist irgendwo dazwischen, in der Regel grau schattiert.
Die Mehrheit aller Serben, sowohl der bosnischen, kroatischen und der in Jugoslawien lebenden wird sich erst dann selbstkritisch mit der Grausamkeit der eigenen Geschichte auseinandersetzen können, wenn sich ein Gefühl der Gerechtigkeit einstellt, dass eben auch die Verbrechen der "anderen" an die Öffentlichkeit gelangen, kritisiert und in gleichem Umfang sanktioniert werden wie die "eigenen". Dies wurde in allen Balkankriegen seit 1991 bis zuletzt im Kosovo/Kosmet-Konflikt 1999 versäumt.

Ich würde mir wünschen, dass der Journalismus zumindest jetzt, gut drei Jahre nach dem letzten bewaffneten Konflikt auf dem Gebiet des ehemaligen Jugoslawien wieder kritischer und besonnener wird. Besonders von Herrn Rathfelder erwarte ich eine differenziertere Sichtweise und keinen zusätzlichen Meinungsartikel, der sich dieses verhängnisvollen Musters bedient.

Why Nato should call Bush's bluff

The Americans need Europe at least as much as we need them

Dan Plesch The Guardian

Next month George Bush will address the Nato summit in Prague. His advisers intend that Europe will agree that his doctrine of pre-emptive attack be added to Nato's policy toolkit. No doubt he will use spin and coercion to try to get his way, but now is not the time for Nato to sign up to the Bush doctrine. Instead, the strength of its 19 democracies must be applied to containing the US administration and reinforcing Nato's historical role.

Ever since Chancellor Schröder spoke out against President Bush's policies there has been much talk of how Germany is turning its back on the United States. Nothing could be further from the truth. Take a look at the Atlantic charter that both Nato and the UN describe as being the foundation of their organisations. This document was issued by Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt and inspired the young Nelson Mandela. It was published in August 1941 at the lowest ebb of modern civilisation. The Soviet Union was on the verge of defeat by the Nazi armies, after which Hitler would have devoted his undivided attention to destroying Britain. But even at such a time, Churchill laid out the vision of a post-war world not just of free enterprise, but of the control of arms and that "all the nations of the world, for realistic as well as spiritual reasons, must come to the abandonment of the use of force by all nations".

Today, President Bush is seeking to adopt Churchill's aura, while overturning these principles and re-introducing anarchy into international relations. The attacks of September 11 were terrible, but materially they do not compare with the devastation of two world wars. We learned from those lessons that we had to evolve to a system of security for all through the UN. Until now Nato has operated, not always easily, within the UN context. Deterrence and arms control are still central to its strategy. In answer to criticism that Nato was prepared to use its nuclear weapons first in the event of a Russian attack, Nato used to argue, and I can hear Margaret Thatcher's sanctimonious tones even now, that it would never be the first to use force. Now the US administration is seeking to overturn this approach and tear up the principles born of so much earlier suffering. We cannot allow this to be done.

There is a traditional process that the US has used in the past to get agreement at Nato from reluctant allies. It consists of distracting attention from the main issues, which are then agreed in secret documents which the Europeans do not have to account for to their parliaments. First of all there will be the usual distractions such as: "Is Nato relevant if it won't invade Iraq?" "Will the US stay committed in the Balkans?" "We must form (yet another) rapid reaction force." The reality is that the US has a long-term strategic interest in Europe and, in fact, the more independence Europe shows in defence policy, the more, not less, likely the US is to want to stay involved.
Were the US to pull out of Europe it would leave a yawning gap in its global command structure. For Nato's supreme commander, the US marine General James Jones, Nato is just part of his responsibilities, which stretch from South Africa to Siberia. Four other US officers are tasked with controlling the rest of the world and "shaping" their regions to suit US interests.

Full Spectrum Dominance is the central idea in US military planning developed by President Clinton and given new force under Mr Bush. You may want the Pentagon to take home its nukes and troops if we reject its strategy and back the international criminal court, but they aren't going anywhere. So this is a bluff that can be called.

Many Europeans still find US forces reassuring and it was only a couple of years ago that their presence in the Balkans was applauded, but this means that the US can exact unconditional support for a contribution to Europe that is also in its own interests.

So after we set aside the distractions we can focus on the real policy-making process. "Secret agreements by US and European generals are the usual way that the US gets Nato agreement to controversial policies," according to the German analyst Otfried Nassauer, one of Europe's most informed critics of alliance policy making. In the US, the Congress looks in detail at military strategy. In European parliamentary democracies, elected politicians have far less access. Even ministers often have little understanding of the documents they are asked to rubber stamp.

Unless there is a clear demand across Europe for US-style transparency in military planning we will find that our government has secretly agreed to help in the new policy of attack first, ask questions later. We may also find that all the attention on intervention has meant that we are still not protected against attacks at home. The recent attack on a French oil tanker could have been at Rotterdam or Milford Haven.

· Dan Plesch is senior research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute and author of Sheriff and Outlaws in the Global Village