FYI, from one of the regulars at The Emperors New Clothes website. Nothing like a little (or alot) paranoia. "...a NATO military assault that would install a puppet government. " And on hard right websites like WorldNetDaily, other unnamed military sources are talking of troop deployments headed towards Baghdad to topple Saddam Hussein in conjunction with the refusal to grant access to the revamped UN weapons inspection teams. October Surprise anyone? Maybe I should finally put together my webpage with rants like these. Call it Conspiranoia. Or None Dare Call It (T)Reason. A Noise Not An Echo. The Conscience Of A Con Man.The Preening Of America. Theories of Surplus Stupidity.The Culture of Nausea. The Prophet With No Charms.Negative Dianetics. Advertisements for My Dog. How I Stabbed My Wife At A Cocktail Party And Later Wrote A Letter of Recommendation For A Prison Writer Who Stabbed a Waiter.
Michael Pugliese, wondering what was in that Thai food...
--- Original Message --- "Jankovic, Tika" <Tika.Jankovich at micrel.com> Wrote on Tue, 29 Aug 2000 18:12:59 -0700
------------------ FYI and pass it on.
Tika
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Gregory Elich [SMTP:gelich at worldnet.att.net]
> Sent: Sunday, August 27, 2000 12:14 PM
> To: jagoldberg at aol.com; Jankovic, Tika; Teemokco at aol.com;
> friendly at pipeline.com; Ken Freeland
> Subject: NATO Preparing New Military Strike in Balkans
>
> NATO PREPARING NEW MILITARY STRIKE IN BALKANS
>
> By Gregory Elich
>
> Quietly, NATO is laying plans for a new military strike against
> Yugoslavia. On August 13 through 15, CIA Director George Tenet visited
> Bulgaria. In a series of extraordinary meetings, Tenet met with Bulgarian
> President Petur Stoyanov, as well as the Prime Minister, Interior Minister
> and Defense Minister. Officially, the purpose of Tenet's visit was to
> discuss the problem of organized crime and narcotics. However, Tenet
> spent
> a combined total of only 20 minutes at the headquarters of the National
> Security Service and the National Service for Combating Organized Crime.
> Unnamed diplomatic sources revealed that the proposed oil transit pipeline
> from the Caspian Sea was also topic of discussion.
> The driving motivation for Tenet's visit, though, was to discuss
> Yugoslavia. According to an unnamed diplomatic source, Montenegrin
> secession from Yugoslavia topped the agenda. Following the meeting
> between
> Tenet and Major General Dimo Gyaurov, Director of the National
> Intelligence
> Service, a public statement was issued which stressed their "commonality
> of
> interests." Reports in the Bulgarian press revealed that various options
> were discussed with Bulgaria's president and prime minister. Tenet's
> preferred option is the removal of the Yugoslav government, either as a
> result of that country's election on September 24, or by a NATO military
> assault that would install a puppet government. Another scenario would
> follow the secession of Montenegro from Yugoslavia. If open warfare
> breaks
> out over Montenegro's secession, then the United States plans to wage a
> full-scale war against Yugoslavia, as it did in spring 1999. Sofia's
> Monitor reported that the "CIA coup machine" is forming. "A strike
> against
> Belgrade is imminent," it adds, and "Bulgaria will serve as a base." (1)
> The Italian army recently signed a lease contract to conduct
> training
> exercises beginning in October at the Koren training ground, near Kaskovo
> in
> southeast Bulgaria. The French army signed a similar agreement, in which
> French soldiers and tanks will train at the Novo Selo grounds in central
> Bulgaria from October 11 to December 12. Talks are also underway for the
> U.S. military to lease the Shabla training grounds in northeastern
> Bulgaria.
> Scheduled to take place following the election in Yugoslavia, the training
> exercises could serve as a launching pad for NATO's planned military
> strike.
> It was recently announced that the British aircraft carrier HMS Invincible
> is to be redeployed to the Adriatic over the next few months in support of
> a
> potential conflict over Montenegro (2)
> Military force is only one component of the West's destabilization
> campaign against Yugoslavia. In November 1998, President Clinton launched
> a
> plan for the overthrow of the government of Yugoslavia. The initial
> emphasis of the plan centered on supporting secessionist forces in
> Montenegro and the right-wing opposition in Serbia. (3) Several months
> later, during the bombing of Yugoslavia, Clinton signed a secret paper
> instructing the CIA to topple the Yugoslav government. The plan called
> for
> the CIA to secretly fund opposition groups and the recruitment of moles in
> the Yugoslav government and military. (4)
> On July 8, 1999, U.S. and British officials revealed that commando teams
> were training snatch operations to seize alleged war criminals and
> Yugoslav
> President Slobodan Milosevic. As an encouragement to mercenaries, the
> U.S.
> State Department also announced a $5 million bounty for President
> Milosevic.
> (5)
> Several Yugoslav government officials and prominent individuals,
> including Defense Minister Pavle Bulatovic, have been gunned down. Most
> of
> these crimes remain unsolved, as the assassins managed to escape. Police
> apprehended one assassin, Milivoje Gutovic, after he shot Vojvodina
> Executive Council President Bosko Perosevic at an agricultural fair in
> Novi
> Sad. During interrogations, Gutovic admitted to police that he worked for
> the right-wing Serbian Renewal Movement. (6)
> Goran Zugic, security advisor to secessionist Montenegrin President
> Milo Djukanovic, was murdered late on May 31, 2000. The assassin escaped,
> allowing Western leaders to blame President Milosevic. Coming just one
> week
> before crucial local elections in Montenegro, forces opposing President
> Milosevic stood to gain from the murder, as the effect would tend to sway
> undecided voters in favor of secessionist parties. A few days after the
> assassination, Yugoslav Minister of Information Goran Matic held a press
> conference, at which he accused the CIA of complicity in the murder.
> Matic
> played a taped recording of two telephone conversations between head of
> the
> US mission in Dubrovnik Sean Burns, US State Department official James
> Swaggert, Gabriel Escobar of the US economic group in Montenegro and Paul
> Davies of the US Agency for International Development. Excerpts of the
> conversations, recorded 20 minutes after the assassination and again three
> hours later, included comments such as, "It was professional," and
> "Mission
> accomplished." (7)
> The first publicly known Western plan to assassinate President
> Milosevic was drafted in 1992. Richard Tomlinson, a former British MI6
> employee, later disclosed the plan. His task as an MI6 agent was to carry
> out undercover operations in Eastern Europe posing as a businessman or
> journalist. Tomlinson frequently met with MI6 officer Nick Fishwick.
> During one their meetings, Fishwick showed Tomlinson a document entitled,
> "The Need to Assassinate President Milosevic of Serbia." Three methods
> were
> proposed for the assassination of Milosevic. The first method, Tomlinson
> recalled, "was to train and equip a Serbian paramilitary opposition
> group,"
> which would have the advantage of deniability but an unpredictable chance
> of
> success. The second method would employ a specially trained British SAS
> squad to murder President Milosevic "either with a bomb or sniper ambush."
> Fishwick considered this more reliable, but it lacked deniability. The
> third method would be to kill Milosevic "in a staged car crash." (8)
> Seven years later, on October 3, 1999, the third method was employed
> against
> the leader of the Serbian Renewal Movement, Vuk Draskovic, when a truck
> filled with sand plowed into his car, killing everyone inside except for
> Draskovic. The temperamental Draskovic had been a major factor in the
> chronic fragmentation of the right-wing opposition, frustrating
> Washington's
> efforts to forge a unified opposition. (9)
> During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, a missile struck President
> Milosevic's home on April 22, 1999. He and his wife were staying
> elsewhere
> that evening. Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon was quick to announce that "we
> are not targeting President Milosevic." It is impossible, though, to view
> a
> missile striking Milosevic's bedroom at 3:10 AM as anything but an
> assassination attempt. (10)
> In November 1999, members of an assassination squad, code-named
> "Spider," were arrested in Yugoslavia. According to Minister Goran Matic,
> "French intelligence was behind" the Spider group, whose aim was the
> assassination of President Milosevic. Planned scenarios included a sniper
> attack, planting an explosive device alongside a route they expected
> Milosevic to travel, planting an explosive in his car, and organizing 10
> trained commandos to storm the presidential residence. The leader of the
> group, Jugoslav Petrusic, had dual Yugoslav and French citizenship. Matic
> claimed that Petrusic worked for French intelligence for ten years.
> During
> interrogations, Petrusic said that he had killed 50 men on orders by
> French
> intelligence. Matic announced that one of the members of Spider was a
> "specialist for killings with a truck full of sand" - the same method used
> against Draskovic the previous month.
> Following the Bosnian war, Petrusic organized the transport of 180
> Bosnian Serb mercenaries to fight for Mobutu Sese Seku in Zaire, an affair
> that was managed by French intelligence. According to a Bosnian Serb
> businessman, Petrusic "did not hide the fact that he was working for the
> French intelligence service. I have personally seen a photo of him next
> to
> Mitterand as his bodyguard." In younger days, Petrusic was a member of
> the
> French Foreign Legion. During NATO's war against Yugoslavia, the Spider
> group infiltrated the Yugoslav Army, supplying information to the French
> and
> guiding NATO warplanes to their targets.
> Yugoslav secret service sources revealed that the Spider group trained
> at NATO bases in Bosnia where "buildings resembling those where Milosevic
> lives were constructed." Money from the French intelligence service for
> Spider was brought to the border between Hungary and Yugoslavia by a man
> named Serge Lazarevic. (11)
> One month later, the members of a second hit team, calling itself
> the
> Serbian Liberation Army, was arrested. Their aim was to assassinate
> President Milosevic and restore the monarchy. (12)
> At the end of July 2000, a squad of four Dutch commandos was
> apprehended while attempting to cross into Serbia from Montenegro. During
> the investigation, they admitted that they intended to kill or kidnap
> President Milosevic. The four said that they were informed that $30
> million
> had been offered for "Milosevic's head," and that they intended to "claim
> a
> reward." One of the men said that the group planned to abduct Milosevic
> or
> former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and "surrender them to The
> Hague." The group planned to put them atop a car "in a ski box and
> transport them.out of the country." If the abduction failed, one of the
> men "had the idea to kill the president, to decapitate his head, to put it
> in the box and to send it home" to the Netherlands.
> One of the arrested men, Gotfrides de Ri, belonged to the openly
> racist neo-nazi Center Party. During the wars in Croatia and Bosnia, the
> Center Party sent Dutch mercenaries to fight in right-wing Croatian
> paramilitary units. At the time of their arrest, the four were found with
> several knives, including one with a swastika, and wires with hooks for
> strangulation. All four admitted that they had trained under the British
> SAS. At a news conference on August 1, Goran Matic accused the U.S of
> being
> the prime sponsor of assassinations and attempted assassinations. "It is
> obvious that they are recruiting various terrorist groups because they are
> frustrated with the fact that their military, political and economic goals
> in southeastern Europe have not been realized. [They are] trying to send
> them into the country so that they can change our political and social
> environment." (13) Jonathan Eyal, an advisor to the British government,
> commented recently, "I can't say when it will happen, but I can guarantee
> that Milosevic will end up dead, and he will be followed by a more
> pro-Western government." (14)
> Flagrant Western interference is distorting the political process in
> Yugoslavia. U.S. and Western European funds are channelled to right-wing
> opposition parties and media through such organizations as the National
> Endowment for Democracy and George Soros' Open Society Institute. The
> National Democratic Institute (NDI) is yet another of the myriad
> semi-private organizations that have attached themselves like leeches on
> Eastern Europe. The NDI opened an office in Belgrade in 1997, hoping to
> capitalize on opposition attempts to bring down the government through
> street demonstrations. By 1999, the NDI had already trained over 900
> right-wing party leaders and activists on "message development, public
> outreach and election strategy." NDI also claimed to have provided
> "organizational training and coalition-building expertise" to the
> opposition. (15)
> The New Serbia Forum, funded by the British Foreign Office, brings
> Serbian professionals and academics to Hungary on a regular basis for
> discussions with British and Central European "experts." The aim of the
> meetings is to "design a blueprint for post-Milosevic society." The Forum
> develops reports intended to serve as "an action plan" for a future
> pro-Western government. Subjects under discussion have included
> privatization and economic stabilization. The Forum calls for the
> "reintegration of Yugoslavia into the European family," a phrase that
> translates into the dismantling of the socialist economy and inviting
> Western corporations to swarm in. (16)
> Western aims were clearly spelled out in the Stability Pact for
> Southeastern Europe of June 10, 1999. This document called for "creating
> vibrant market economies" in the Balkans, and "markets open to greatly
> expanded foreign trade and private sector investment." One year later,
> the
> White House issued a fact sheet detailing the "major achievements" of the
> Pact. Among the achievements listed, the European Bank for Reconstruction
> and Development (EBRD) and the International Finance Corporations are said
> to be "mobilizing private investment." By 2002, "new private investment
> in
> the region" is expected to reach nearly $2 billion. The Pact's Business
> Advisory Council "is visiting all of the countries of Southeast Europe" to
> "offer advice" on investment issues. Another initiative is Hungarian
> involvement with opposition-led local governments and opposition media in
> Serbia.
> The Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), on July 26,
> 2000,
> inaugurated an investment fund to be managed by Soros Private Funds
> Management. The Southeast Europe Equity Fund, "will invest in companies
> in
> the region in a range of sectors." Its purpose, according to the U.S.
> Embassy in Macedonia, is "to provide capital for new business development,
> expansion and privatization." In March 2000, Montenegro signed an
> agreement
> permitting the operation of OPIC on its territory. Billionaire George
> Soros spelled out what all this means. U.S. involvement in the region, he
> said, "creates investment opportunities," and "I am happy to put my money
> where they are putting theirs." In other words, there is money to be
> made.
> George Munoz, President and CEO of OPIC was also blunt. "The Southeast
> Europe Equity Fund," he announced, "is an ideal vehicle to connect
> American
> institutional capital with European entrepreneurs eager to help Americans
> tap their growing markets. OPIC is pleased that Soros Private Funds
> Management has chosen to send a strong, positive signal that Southeast
> Europe is open for business."
> The final text of the Stability Pact for Southeast Europe suggested
> that a Yugoslavia that would "respect" the Pact's "principles and
> objectives" would be "welcome" to become a full member. "In order to
> draw
> the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia closer to this goal," the document
> declared, Montenegro would be an "early beneficiary." Western leaders
> hope
> that a future pro-Western Yugoslavia would, as has the rest of Eastern
> Europe, be "eager to help Americans" make money. (17)
> Western leaders yearn to install a puppet government in Belgrade, and
> place their hopes in the fragmented right-wing opposition parties in
> Serbia.
> In 1999, American officials encouraged these parties to organize mass
> demonstrations to overthrow the government, but these rallies quickly
> fizzled due to lack of popular support. When Yugoslav Federal and local
> elections were announced for July 24, 2000, American and Western European
> officials met with leaders of the Serbian opposition parties, urging them
> to
> unite behind one presidential candidate. Despite U.S. efforts, three
> candidates emerged in opposition to President Milosevic.
> At the beginning of August 2000, the U.S. opened an office in
> Budapest
> specifically tasked to assist opposition parties in Yugoslavia. Among the
> staff are 24 psychological warfare specialists who engaged in
> psychological
> operations during NATO's war against Yugoslavia and earlier against Iraq
> in
> the Gulf War. During those operations, the team also fabricated news
> items
> in an effort to sway Western public opinion.
> If President Milosevic is re-elected, then U.S. Secretary of State
> Madeleine Albright expects street demonstrations to overturn the election
> results and topple the government. In meetings held in Banja Luka in
> spring
> 2000, Albright expressed disappointment with the failure of past efforts
> to
> overthrow the legally elected Yugoslav government. Albright said that she
> had hoped sanctions would lead people to "blame Milosevic for this
> suffering." An exasperated Albright wondered, "What was stopping the
> people
> from taking to the streets?" Indicating that the U.S. was casting about
> for
> a pretext for intervention, she added, "Something needs to happen in
> Serbia
> that the West can support." (18)
> The paths of Yugoslavia's two republics are sharply diverging, and
> Montenegro has embarked on a program to place its entire economy at the
> service of the West. November 1999 saw the introduction in Montenegro
> of
> the German mark as an official currency and the passage of legislation
> eliminating socially owned property. One month later, several large firms
> were publicly offered for sale, including the Electric Power Company, the
> 13th July Agricultural Complex, the Hotel-Tourist firm Boka and many
> others.
> (19) The republic's privatization program for 2000 calls for the
> privatization of most state-owned industries, and includes measures to
> "protect domestic and foreign investors." Three hundred firms will be
> privatized in the initial stage of the plan. In early 2000, the U.S.
> signed
> an agreement to provide Montenegro $62 million, including $44 million from
> the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID). According to the
> agency, it will also undertake "assistance programs to support economic
> reform and restructuring the economy..to advance Montenegro toward a free
> market economy." U.S. policy advisor on the Balkans James Dobbins
> indicated
> that the U.S. viewed the "market-oriented reforms of the Djukanovic regime
> as a model and stimulus for similar reforms throughout the former
> Yugoslavia." The U.S. is also offering guarantees for private investors
> in
> the republic. Additional aid is provided by the European Union, which
> has
> approved $36 million for Montenegro. "From the first day," admitted
> Djukanovic, "we have had British and European consultants." (20)
> The Center for International Private Enterprise, an affiliate of
> the
> U.S. Chamber of Commerce, is providing support to the Center for
> Entrepreneurship (CEP) in Montenegro. According to the center's executive
> director, Petar Ivanovic, the organization "focuses on elementary and high
> schools," establishing entrepreneurship as a new subject to be taught in
> schools. As Ivanovic explains it, "Introducing young people to the
> concept
> of entrepreneurship will make them less resistant to the private sector."
> The CEP also intends to "educate government officials about the potential
> rewards of the private sector," and to help them "understand the benefits
> of
> economic reform and privatization." (21) According to Djukanovic, when
> he
> met with President Clinton on June 21, 1999, the U.S. president gave the
> privatization process a push by telling Djukanovic that the U.S. planned
> to
> "stimulate the economy" by "encouraging US corporations and banks to
> invest
> capital in Montenegro." (22)
> Djukanovic has moved steadily toward secession from Yugoslavia,
> indicating that he will push for separation if the right-wing opposition
> loses the September 24 election. In a phone call to Djukanovic in July
> 2000, Madeleine Albright promised that the U.S would provide him with an
> additional $16.5 million. That same week, Djukanovic blurted out that
> Montenegro "is no longer part of Yugoslavia." He also made the
> astonishing
> claim that he considered it a "priority" for Montenegro to join NATO, the
> organization that had bombed his country only the year before. The next
> month, Albright announced that she and Djukanovic "try and talk to each
> other and meet on a regular basis," and that the "United States is
> supportive of the approach that President Djukanovic has taken in terms of
> democratic development and his approach to the economic reforms also."
> (23)
> Western support for secession extends beyond Albright meeting and
> talking with Djukanovic. More than half of the population of Montenegro
> opposes secession, and any such move is likely to explode into violence.
> In
> preparation for that rift, Djukanovic is building up a private army of
> over
> 20,000 soldiers, the Special Police, including special forces armed with
> anti-tank weapons. Sources in Montenegro revealed that Western special
> forces are training this private army. Djukanovic has requested that
> NATO
> establish an "air shield over Montenegro" as he moves toward secession.
> One
> member of the Special Police, named Velibor, confirmed that they were
> receiving training from the British SAS. "If there is a situation where
> weapons will decide the outcome, we are ready," he said. "We are training
> for that." At a press conference on August 1, 2000, Minister Goran Matic
> declared that the "British are carrying out part of the training of the
> Montenegrin special units. It is also true," he added, that the Special
> Police "are intensively obtaining various kinds and types of weapons,
> starting with anti-aircraft and anti-helicopter weapons and so on, and
> they
> are also being assisted by Croatia, as the weapons go through Dubrovnik
> and
> other places." Furthermore, Matic pointed out that, "last year, before and
> after the aggression, a group from within the Montenegrin MUP [Ministry of
> Interior Affairs] structure left for training within the U.S. police
> structure and the U.S. intelligence structures." In August, two armored
> vehicles bound for Montenegro were discovered in the port of Ancona,
> Italy.
> One of the vehicles was fitted with a turret suitable for mounting a
> machine
> gun or anti-tank weapon. Italian customs officials, reports the Italian
> news service ANSA, are "convinced" that arms trafficking to Montenegro "is
> of far greater magnitude than this single episode might lead one to
> believe." Revelling in anticipation of armed conflict, Djukanovic
> bragged
> that "many will tuck their tails between their legs and will soon have to
> flee Montenegro." (24)
> A violent conflict in Montenegro would provide NATO with its
> long-desired pretext for intervention. As early as October 1999, General
> Wesley Clark drew up plans for a NATO invasion of Montenegro. The plan
> envisions an amphibious assault by more than 2,000 Marines storming the
> port
> of Bar and securing the port as a beachhead for pushing inland. Troops
> ferried by helicopters would seize the airport at Podgorica, while NATO
> warplanes would bomb and strafe resisting Yugoslav forces. According to
> U.S. officials, other Western countries have also developed invasion
> plans.
> (25) Richard Holbrooke, U.S. Ambassador to the UN declared, "We are in
> constant touch with the leadership of Montenegro," and warned that a
> conflict in Montenegro "would be directly affecting NATO's vital
> interest."
> (26) NATO General Secretary George Robertson was more explicit. "I say
> to
> Milosevic: watch out, look what happened the last time you miscalculated."
> (27)
> President Milosevic and the ruling coalition enjoy considerable
> popular
> support in Yugoslavia, and many Western analysts admit they are likely to
> emerge victorious in the September 24 election. This will set in motion,
> possibly within a few months, a NATO strike launched from Bulgaria
> intended
> to overthrow the legally elected government of Yugoslavia. If the coup
> fails, then Montenegro could declare independence, setting in motion a
> chain
> of events that would lead to a second all out war by NATO against
> Yugoslavia. The war in 1999 brought immense suffering to the Balkans.
> The
> next war promises to be catastrophic.
>
> NOTES
>
> 1) "Bulgaria - Press Review" BTA (Sofia), August 12, 2000
> "Bulgaria - Us CIA Director's Visit," BTA (Sofia), August 15, 2000
> "CIA Did Not Tell Us the Most Important Thing," Trud (Sofia), August 16,
> 2000
> "Bulgaria - Press Review," BTA (Sofia), August 14, 2000
> "Bulgaria - Press Review," BTA (Sofia), August 16, 2000
>
> 2) Mila Avramova, "Italians Lease Training Ground for 400,000 Leva," Trud
> (Sofia), August 9, 2000
> Michael Evans, "Balkans Watch for 'Invincible'," The Times (London),
> August
> 26, 2000.
>
> 3) Paul Beaver, "Clinton Tells CIA to Oust Milosevic," The Observer,
> November 29, 2000.
> Fran Visnar, "Clinton and the CIA Have Created a Scenario to Overthrow
> Milosevic," Vijesnik (Zagreb), November 30, 2000.
>
> 4) Douglas Waller, "Tearing Down Milosevic," Time Magazine, July 12, 1999.
>
> 5) Michael Moran, "A Threat to 'Snatch' Milosevic," MSNBC, July 8, 1999.
>
> 6) "Yugoslav Police Say Killer of Local Leader Worked for Opposition,"
> Agence France-Presse,
> May 15, 2000.
> "Arrested Assassin Gutovic Member of Otpor and SPO," Tanjug
> (Belgrade), May 15, 2000.
>
> 7) "Yugoslav Official Accuses CIA of Being Behind Montenegro Murder,"
> Agence
> France-Presse,
> June 6, 2000.
> Aleksandar Vasovic, "Serb Aide Says CIA Behind Slaying," Associated Press,
> June 6, 2000
> "Yugoslav Information Minister Accuses CIA of Complicity in Zugic Murder,"
> Borba (Belgrade),
> June 6, 2000
>
> 8) Statement by Richard Tomlinson, addressed to John Wadham, September 11,
> 1998.
>
> 9) "Serb Consensus: Draskovic Crash Was No Accident," Seattle Times News
> Services, October 13,
> 1999.
>
> 10) "NATO: Milosevic Not Target," BBC News, April 22, 1999.
>
> 11) "Serbs Allege Milosevic Assassination Plot," Reuters, November 25,
> 1999.
> "France Plots to Murder Milosevic," Agence France-Presse, November 26,
> 1999.
> "SFOR Units Involved in a Plot to Kill Milosevic," Agence France-Presse,
> December 1, 1999.
> Gordana Igric, "Alleged 'Assassins' Were No Stranger to France," IWPR