May 12, 1999

The changing tune

Yesterday, Agence France Presse, the French news agency,
reported on the UN's heavy handed and unpopular attempt to
move Kosovo refugees away from the Kosovo-Albanian border
deeper into Albania. Unpersuaded by the scare tactics
employed (the refugees were told they were in danger of Serb
artillery), the overwhelming majority rejected the idea
of moving further away from their homes.

The following day, NATO Secretary General Javier Solana,
"paid a lightning visit to a Kosovar refugee camp" - one
in the *central* part of the Albania - and took part
in an event reminicent of an American football rally.

"Dressed in shirtsleeves and looking relaxed and smiling, Solana was met by
a loud burst of applause from the refugees, who chanted "NATO, NATO!",
"KLA, KLA!" and "USA, USA!"

http://asia.yahoo.com/headlines/120599/world/926523600-90512154041.newsworld.htm
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ROBERT NAIMAN, (202) 265-3263, naimanr@preamble.org,
http://www.preamble.org/greensign.html
Naiman, who is research associate with the Preamble Center, has organized a
petition of American Jews urging the Green Party of Germany (which is part
of the coalition government and is meeting tomorrow) to oppose the war and
reject analogies to the Nazi Holocaust. The petition, signed by over 200
prominent American Jews, states: "The Holocaust is being invoked in order
to justify an
unjust bombing campaign against the civilian population of Yugoslavia. Many
of us have friends who lost family members in the Holocaust, or have lost
relatives ourselves. We are deeply aware of our own history and the need
for the world community to intervene in situations where there is a threat
of genocide, in order to prevent it. However, this is clearly not what is
happening in
Yugoslavia today. We do not believe that our government's war against
Yugoslavia is motivated by humanitarian concerns. This is evidenced by
their refusal to airlift food and water to desperate refugees within
Kosovo, as well as the paltry sums allocated for refugee relief as compared
to the  billions of dollars spent on the bombing. The Clinton
Administration's great reluctance to pursue a
negotiated solution to the conflict also indicates that this intervention
is mainly about power: showing the world that the United States (and NATO,
which it largely controls) is the self-appointed international policeman,
and stands above international law..."

More on this:

If NATO has been serious about helping ethnic Albanians
in Yugoslavia, it would have taken the billions of
dollars it has used to rain destruction on the civilian
population of Yugoslavia and used it to fund adequate
housing and interim supplies for the refugees
to sustain themselves in northern Albanian. Then
all that would have been necessary would have been
to advise those who were fearful of where to go, a
communications project that could have been accomplished
for a few million dollars total. Notice that even in its
most outlandish propaganda, NATO has never claimed that
ethnic Albanians have been prevented from leaving
the country.

Instead, as the UN reported yesterday, less than $100
million TOTAL has been put up by member nations
to help the refugees.