Blair: We did well in Kosovo

Yeah right,you did well in Kosovo...like you did well in Iraq,right?:-)LOL.Anyway,Blair is a political goner so nobody cares anymore what he thinks!

I agree with Mr Blair, our troops did well and prevented Serbs and Albanians to kill each other, and fall into a civil war. Six years have passed and it is time now to let the Albanians, who are the majority, be independent to decide by themselves what is good for the people of Kosovo.

Mr.Prime Minister,a big Thank You from whole Kosova.Thank you for your help and support.Only time will tell how good you were in Kosova but be assured that kosovan albanians will remember you forever.We are very fortunate that in 21st century we have friends like UK,US,France,Israel,etc.Now is time to show to the world that we can live together,try to build the future for our children.

Prevent Albanians and serbs to kill eachother? how many have died? in kosovo since KFOR arrived? 22 albanians but over 200 serbs, so stop talking nonsense

Victor - By 'our troops' do you mean the KLA? Or are you British?

Peter - I agree entirely.

Yeah right,you did well in Kosovo...like you did well in Iraq,right?:-)
(Peter)

Peter they done better than Serbia, They stop ethnic cleansing

I don't see how Albanians who run a territory without even the most basic human rights have any moral right to gain another Albanian state.

I don't see how Albanians who run a territory without even the most basic human rights have any moral right to gain another Albanian state.

Ida, could please elaborate on this, because this I don't agree with it at all, I think it's complete nonesense. It's easy to just dismiss issues like that, prove it with examples.

To IDA: 100% I agree with you Ida. That’s the reason for me to be a supporter of unification of Kosovo with Albania, Ida. Even if someone who is the winner of NOBEL prize for peace, became a president of Serbia, that doesn’t mean nothing for us: we were struggling and we are struggling for a Kosovo as a new Albanian state as the first phase for unification with Albania,Ida. This ain't something new: everybody's talking.

Kate, when I say 'our troops', I mean the KFOR. The KLA is not a force anymore, didn't you know ?

Just political bantering for an overall bad job everywhere else...

The REAL irony is that everybody is claiming ethnic hemogony as Serbia's demon, yet it's Kosovo that gets to claim it's independence on the same principle...

Yes, you did well Blair.
Congratulations...

Ida - looking at Serbia's track record of enforcing human rights in the 20th century, it's hypocritical of you to criticize other countries in the region.

At any rate, that was never a civil war threat within Kosova, but it's nice having the Brits there.

IDA, you said this;
“I don't see how Albanians who run a territory without even the most basic human rights have any moral right to gain another Albanian state”

Let me make it clear to you, that Kosovo, has the most democratic institutions in the region, our framework on the self governance is far more advanced in the human rights and rule of law than the one that Serbia has.
Kosovo grants the right to every citizen to approach the institutions in their own language.
Kosovo Protection Force is one of the leading agencies helping the Serb returnees in the infrastructural projects in Kosovo.
I can continue like this as far as you can count.
We Kosovoars can be proud of our institutions, and what we achieved for 8 years with support of our allies.

What can you be proud of? Please do not come up with “former Yugoslavian incentive fund for underdeveloped regions.”

Name one thing you did for Kosovo community.
The late constitution you have adopted, does not even mention the Albanian, Roma, Hungarian (Magyar), and Turkish language.
It will take another 50 years of development of democracy in Serbia to equal Kosovo institutions.
Take for example the approach in the negotiations, it is LAME…

Avni Gjoni

Dear all

All along my arguments i have stressed out that although it is a very sensitive subject to both us Albanians and Serbs them selfs, but my point always was we have to look at the situation on the gorund and that is Serbia has lost ruling Kosova by force as it tryed for decades, my opinion is that this issue has never been dealt with properly before and now the time has come to settle it once and for all,and that is for Kosova to be its own state.
im sorry if its to painfull to face the reality,but we all know that there is not going back, now we both communities can sit and argue all our lives, but the fact and the matter is that there's over 2million people to try and make a better place to live in ,including Serbs, Turks, Roma...
as Mr Ashdown says:
"People have to face history. Thus Belgrade needs to take hold of reality and admit it had lost its moral right to claim administration over Kosovo"

Leave your natianal ego a side for a second and look on how there can be inprovments within Kosova and not point fingers at each other..
good day

Victor,

By your reasoning isn't it time that your government allow self determination for the people of Ireland and end 900 years of occupation?

Avni Gjoni, have you seen the film LIFE OF BRIAN especially the "what have the Romans ever done for us" scene. Claiming Kosovo as such a paradise for its Serbian inhabitants is bizarre and doesn't coincide with reality.

The new constitution of Serbia doesn't mention any other official languages as the only language that is official in all of Serbia is Serbian.

"Serbian language and Cyrillic script shall be in official use in the Republic of Serbia. Official use of other languages and scripts shall be regulated by the law based on the Constitution."

Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Rusyn and Croatian are all official in Vojvodina and Albanian & English in Kosovo.

Ashdown took an anti-Serbian view in the early 1990s and said similar things to "Serbia losing its moral right to claim administration over Kosovo" even before 24 March 1999. Blair just jumped on the bandwagon for the 78 days to attempt to get some sort of Falklands-esque popularity boost.

Serbs overthrew Milosevic and now he is dead. Ashdown acts as if Milosevic still runs Serbia and all Serbs are evil. What about all the Albanians in Presevo and why does he ignore the KLA and all the dead Serbs in Kosovo and Serb refugees from Kosovo?

It is with great interest to see the comments over the typecast of what Blair said but you would be interested in knowing that not everyone like the spin master outgoing PM Blair agrees that Kosovo is going well. However, he is just as defiant on Iraq as he is on any of his failed foreign intervention - what would one expect when many British citzens now know him as MR bLIAR.

The question asked put Mr Blair on the spot completly and it was "given that 200,000 people are unable to return, do you not feel that Kosovo has been a complete failure?"

It is clear that many in the UK Parliment do not see through Blairs rhetoric - he lost credibility in Iraq and Kosovo is unravelling too.

sorry, i forgot to add that it is now the UN that has contributed to an even larger number of illegal albanians in kosovo. before the war, we heard that there were 1.4mil ethnic albanians in kosovo. all of a sudden the war is over, and there are 2 million! how did this magic happen? maybe the next time we blink the number will be 2.5mil.
i think that europe is afraid to let these people run loose through europe and want to leave kosovo out of the eu.

Kosovo is so democratic, so advanced, so well organised, that it is the poorest region in Europe (and will remain so) and is probably the largest hub for criminal activity in Europe. When people talk about forced prostitution in the UK they invariably talk about the "Albanian problem". You might think highly of yourselves, but in western Europe you have the image you deserve - that of vagabonds and thieves who will provide nothing to Europe either economically, culturally,etc,etc.

RE: Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown credibility is about as low as the UCK/KLA run Kosovo Albanian Leadership.

Paddy Ashdown could not govern Bosnia Herzegovina and summarily purged democratically elected Serbian Officials in the RS Republic. He has no credibility to talk about morality or democratic principles.

However, his governship in Bosnia Herzegovina is not far from past European Dictatorships.

RE: Tony Blair

"we did well"

Read the indictment of the illegal bombing of the former Yugoslavia -you did very well.


The Governments, Organizations and Individuals named herein are charged with:

Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Other Offenses in Violation of the Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal (Nuremberg), the Hague Regulations (Hague) and Geneva Conventions (Geneva) and Other International and National Laws;

Grave Violations of the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter), the North Atlantic Treaty (NAT), other international treaties, International Law, the Federal Constitution and Domestic Laws of the United States, the Basic Laws of Other Nations Including the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Spain and other Governments of NATO members and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Grave Violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Genocide Convention, and Other International Covenants, Conventions, Treaties, Declarations and Domestic Laws named herein.

A. Defendants

1. President William J. Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Commanding Generals, Admirals, U.S. personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the U.S. military bomber and assault aircraft, U.S. military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the United States personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

2. The United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and Commanding Generals, Admirals, U.K. personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the U.K. military bomber and assault aircraft, U.K. military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the United Kingdom personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

3. The Federal Republic of Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and Commanding Generals, Admirals, German personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the German military bomber and assault aircraft, German military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

4. The Government of every NATO country that participated directly in the assaults on Yugoslavia with aircraft, missiles, or personnel and Commanding Generals, Admirals, NATO personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the NATO military bomber and assault aircraft, NATO military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the governments of the NATO countries’ personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

5. The Governments of Turkey, Hungary, Italy and others who permitted the use of airbases on their territory to be used by U.S., or other military aircraft and missiles for direct assault on Yugoslavia.

6. The North American Treaty Organization (NATO), Secretary General Javier Solano, Supreme Commander, General Wesley K. Clark

7. For Condemnation: Each NATO member that voted to authorize military assaults on Yugoslavia.







B. The Charges

1. Planning and Executing the Dismemberment, Segregation and Impoverishment of Yugoslavia.

The United States, Germany, NATO and other defendants engaged in a course of conduct beginning in, or before 1991 intended to break the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into many parts, segregate different ethnic, religious and other groups among and within newly balkanized borders, weaken the Slav, Serb, Muslim and other populations by causing and prolonging internal violence and by direct assaults by the United States and certain NATO members. As a consequence Yugoslavia, which had 25 million people in an integrated society and economy, is now comprised of many small nations, the largest of which is Serbia. Defendants intend to divide Yugoslavia until all parts of Yugoslavia have fewer than 5 million people, each to be overwhelmingly of a single ethnic origin and religion, to have severely impaired economies largely dominated by foreign interests, in which two groups, Orthodox Christian Serbs and Muslims suffer severest casualties, most extensive property damage, a vast reduction of productivity now down by three-quarters or more, and a generation of impoverishment.

UN Charter; Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of their Independence and Sovereignty (Non Intervention Decl.), 1965 USGA Res. 2131.



2.Inflicting, Inciting and Enhancing Violence between Muslims and Slavs.

The United States and other defendants engaged in a course of conduct beginning in or before 1991, to cause Muslims and Orthodox Christian Slavs to engage in protracted fratricidal violence, in wars of attrition, similar to conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya between Muslims and Russian Slavs, which caused death, destruction and division in Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere between the groups and dangerous frictions and enmity between two major enemies of the U.S., Slavic peoples and Muslims, in other regions, weakening both. Tactics included both providing and depriving select Muslim groups of arms to attack others, or adequately defend themselves in Bosnia; motivating, training and supplying KLA with arms to attack Yugoslav police and military to seize control of Kosovo during NATO occupation and attack Serbs and others; preventing outside efforts to prevent and control the violence; committing, causing and condoning violence against persons displaced by U.S. and NATO bombing campaigns, and by KLA and Yugoslav police and military ground actions; causing and supporting clashes between Yugoslav military/police/civilian groups and KLA/paramilitary/civilian groups; condoning and failing to prevent assaults on displaced persons returning to and persons who remained in Kosovo, both before and after the NATO/U.S. occupation of Kosovo. In 1999, the U.S. caused the largest numbers of deaths, injuries and destruction by aerial and missile assaults against all elements in the population and its life support systems.

UN Charter, Art. 2; Non Intervention Decl.; Resolution on the Definition of Aggression (Res. on Aggression), 1997 UNGA Res. 3314.



3. Preventing and Disrupting Efforts to Maintain Unity, Peace and Stability in Yugoslavia.

From the beginning of its efforts to implement its plans for dismemberment and destruction of Yugoslavia, the U.S. acted to prevent any interference, negotiation, or other efforts within Yugoslavia, or by other nations, leaders, or individuals to prevent the accomplishment of its intended purposes. Its techniques included political, military and economic threats and control of highly publicized peace negotiations much like those at Dayton, Ohio, during the Bosnia struggle, at Rambouillet, France, in 1999, which created an appearance of earnest peace negotiations, but offered Yugoslavia only two choices, agree to foreign military occupation, or expect a devastating military assault.

UN Charter; Non Intervention Declaration; Resolution on Aggression; Pact of Paris 1928, Art I and II.



4. Destroying the Peace-Making Role of the United Nations.

The United States acted and coerced other nations to act to block the United Nations from performing its duties under the UN Charter to prevent conflict, control violence and maintain peace in Yugoslavia in violation of the Charter of the UN and threatening its viability as a international institution capable of maintaining peace and ending the scourge of war.

UN Charter; Non Intervention Decl.; Resolution on Aggression, Pact of Paris 1928, Art I and II.



5. Using NATO for Military Aggression against and Occupation of Non-Compliant Poor Countries.

The United States acted and coerced other nations to act to cause NATO to authorize direct military assaults on Yugoslavia in violation of the UN Charter and the North Atlantic Treaty relying overwhelmingly on U.S. weaponry and military technology and to cause NATO members to provide and finance the majority of the military forces to occupy Kosovo for the foreseeable future thereby employing the wealth and power of the rich former colonial powers of Europe against the poor and defenseless people of Yugoslavia.

United Nations Charter; North Atlantic Treaty 1949, Art. I.





6. Killing and Injuring a Defenseless Population throughout Yugoslavia.

Beginning on, or before March 24, 1999, the United States, without a declaration of war by the Congress, aided and abetted by certain NATO members, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands, as well as Hungary, Croatia, Italy and others, commenced a war of missile and aerial bombing assaults, often indiscriminate in its targeting, against the populations of Yugoslavia, intentionally killing and injuring many thousands of Serbs, Albanians, Romas, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, foreign nationals throughout Yugoslavia with malice aforethought.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Nuremberg, Principle VI a, b and c; U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, cl. II.



7. Planning, Announcing and Executing Attacks Intended to Assassinate the Head of Government, Other Government Leaders and Selected Civilians.

The United States planned, announced and carried out missile and aerial bombardment attacks intended to assassinate the Head of Government of Yugoslavia, members of his family, other government leaders and selected civilians to destroy existing government leadership and terrorize it and its closest personal support into submission. U.N. Charter, Art. 2, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons (Protected Persons Convention); U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10; U.S. Presidential Executive Order 12333 (Ex.Order 12333); Geneva Conventions 1977, Protocol I Additional (Geneva 1977), Art. 48, 51.



8. Destroying and Damaging Economic, Social, Cultural, Medical, Diplomatic and Religious Resources, Properties and Facilities throughout Yugoslavia.

Beginning on, or before March 24, 1999, the United States, aided and abetted by certain NATO members, including United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands and others including Croatia, Hungary and Italy, commenced a systematic missile and aerial bombing assault on resources, properties and economic, social, cultural, medical, diplomatic and religious facilities intentionally destroying and damaging them throughout Yugoslavia to crush the productive, economic, social, cultural, diplomatic and religious viability of the whole society.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Geneva 1977, Protocol I, Additional, Art. 48, 52, 53; UN Charter, Art. 2; Protected Persons Convention; U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10; Exec. Order 12333; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51; ICESCR.



9. Attacking Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia.

Beginning on or before March 24, 1999, the United States, aided and abetted by others, for the specific purpose of depriving the population of Yugoslavia of food, water, electric power, food production, medicines, medical care and other essentials to their survival, engaged in the systematic destruction and damage by missiles and aerial bombardment of food production and storage facilities, drinking water and irrigation works for agriculture, fertilizer, insecticide, pharmaceutical, hospitals and health care facilities, among other objects essential to human survival.

Hague 1907, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Nuremberg 1970, Principles Via, b and c; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 54.



10. Attacking Facilities Containing Dangerous Substances and Forces.

The United States attacked chemical plants and storage facilities, petroleum and natural gas refining, processing and storage facilities, fertilizer plants and other facilities and locations for the specific purpose of releasing and scattering toxic, radioactive and other dangerous substances and forces into the atmosphere, soil, ground water and food chain to poison the environment and injure the population.

Nuremberg Principle VI, Hague, Art. 22 and 23, Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, Geneva 1925 (Poisonous Substances Protocol); Geneva 1977, Protocol I Additional, Art. 48, 51, 56.



11. Using Depleted Uranium, Cluster Bombs and Other Prohibited Weapons.

The United States used prohibited weapons capable of mass destruction and inflicting indiscriminate death and suffering against the population of all Yugoslavia. Despite knowledge of its deadly long-term effect on life and warnings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. attacked Yugoslavia with depleted uranium missiles, bombs and bullets. These depleted uranium weapons spread radioactive matter into the atmosphere, soil, ground water, food chain and solid objects, placing the Yugoslav population at risk of death, genetic damage, cancers, tumors, leukemia and other injuries for generations. Cluster bombs were used extensively, spraying deadly razor sharp metal shards over wide areas against hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, apartment developments and other heavily populated places inflicting death, injury and property damage. The use of other illegal weapons is under continuing investigation.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23, Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51, 54, 55, POONA Indictment for the Subversion of Science and technology 1978 (POONA Indictment).



12. Waging War on the Environment.

The United States aerial and missile assault intentionally created a widespread, long-term and severe environmental disaster in Yugoslavia. Air pollution from overflights alone multiplied normal impurities in the atmosphere. Thousands of tons of explosives unleashed enormous quantities of chemicals into the air, raised clouds of dust and debris from places hit and started fires that often raged for days. Chemical, petrochemical, oil and gas refinery, storage and transmission facilities purposely targeted in the vicinity of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and other major cities exposed huge populations to dangerous and noxious pollution. Depleted uranium scattered across Kosovo and the remainder of Serbia will threaten life for generations.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51, 54, 55; Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972; Principles I, II, (UN Conf. on Human Environment), et al.



13. Imposing Sanctions through the UN that Are a Genocidal Crime against Humanity to Achieve Impoverishment and Debilitation of the People of Yugoslavia.

The United States began an economic attack on Yugoslavia designed to break it up politically and tear it down economically before 1989. It caused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to use its strongest shock therapy to attack Yugoslav productivity, add to its foreign debt burden and expose national wealth to foreign capital by forcing removal of trade barriers and privatizing vital public industry, commerce, utilities and facilities. In May 1991 U.S. Secretary of State Baker stopped all U.S. aid programs to all six Yugoslav Republics and vetoed future IMF credits, creating an enormous economic incentive and powerful political argument for political opposition to Belgrade to separate other Republics from Serbia. The U.S. forced UN sanctions against Yugoslavia, but relieved Republics that seceded from Yugoslavia of sanctions. Such sanctions devastated the entire economy of Yugoslavia to the degree that a normal growth rate free of U.S. coercion would require 30 years to return Yugoslavia to its 1989 levels of productivity. Per capita production value for all six Republics of Yugoslavia in 1989 was $6220. Today for Serbia and Montenegro, the remaining Republics of Yugoslavia, it is $1510. Ninety percent of all trade was among the six republics before the break-up. All former republics have suffered economically, but Yugoslavia now, with barely 40% of its 1990 population, including Kosovo, has had a far greater decline economically than the favored northern Republics of Slovenia and Croatia, which are today more overwhelmingly Roman Catholic than before their secession. The sanctions against Yugoslavia continue and Serbia, excluding Kosovo, is barred from receiving any planned reparations and aid to rebuild from bomb damage and economic attrition. The sanctions have had a far more damaging effect on life, health, the economy and the quality of life in Yugoslavia than the military assault, increasing death rates, lowering life expectation, reducing nutrition and health care and driving production down. As in Iraq, and elsewhere, the sanctions are an economic crime, a crime against humanity and genocide.

Nuremberg, Principle VI c, Crimes Against Humanity; Genocide Convention; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 54, 55.



14. Creating an Illegal Ad-Hoc Criminal Tribunal to Destroy and Demonize Serb Leadership.

The United States acting through defendant Madeleine Albright coerced the UN Security Council to create ad hoc criminal tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda in violation of the UN Charter to destroy and demonize enemy leaders in those two countries and threaten leaders elsewhere. The UN Charter does not authorize creation of criminal tribunals. The U.S. strongly opposes the International Criminal Tribunal treaty approved by 120 nations at Rome in July 1998 and in the process of ratification by nations now, because it does not intend to subject its leaders or military forces to the jurisdiction of an independent international Court and the rule of international law. By targeting individual enemies in ad hoc courts and charging them with genocide, it achieves their isolation internationally, pressures their own countries to remove them from power, corrupts and politicizes justice and uses the appearance of neutral international law to adjudicate and punish enemies as war criminals and establish itself as an innocent champion of justice.

UN Charter, Statute of the International Court of Justice (Statute ICJ); UDHR; ICCPR.



15. Using Controlled International Media to Create Support for U.S. Assaults Anywhere and to Demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, Serbs and Muslims as Genocidal Murderers.

The United States defendants have systematically controlled, directed, manipulated, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage concerning Yugoslavia and the U.S. assaults on it to gain public support for the massive bombardment of a defenseless Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, as had been done in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and elsewhere. The international media has supported and celebrated U.S. political goals of further fragmentation of Yugoslavia and other areas, segregating each region; demonizing selected government officials, other leaders, generals, military officers and soldiers as genocidal murderers; controlling other nations by the threat of popularly supported missile and air assaults and crippling economic sanctions and stimulating acceptance and support from the U.S. public for future operations against other nations and to increase military budgets to support an expanding global role for U.S. military presence and control.



16. Establishing the Long-term Military Occupation of Strategic Parts of Yugoslavia by NATO Forces.

The United States has coerced defendant NATO members and others to provide and support military occupation forces for the occupation of Kosovo, as it did in Bosnia, in order to physically control key parts of Yugoslavia to enforce permanent separation and segregation of States and peoples, to further injure the populations, to create barriers to immigration from Asia Minor, Arab states in the Middle East, North Africa, and former southern republics of the USSR, and elsewhere; to provide a buffer between Europe and the regions described by controlling the territory of divided, segregated and impoverished Slavs, Serbs, Orthodox Christians, Albanians, and others; to exploit the resources of the region; and to prepare and condition NATO members for future participation against other nations.

UN Charter; NAT, Art. I; Non Intervention Decl.



17. Attempting to Destroy the Sovereignty, Right to Self Determination, Democracy and Culture of the Slavic, Muslim, Christian and Other Peoples of Yugoslavia.

The United States has attempted to destroy the Sovereignty of Yugoslavia, the rights of its people to self determination, the democratic institutions it has developed and its culture that defines the heritage, values and traditions of its people. The United States overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh administration in Iran in 1953, which it replaced with the Shah of Iran, who ruled absolutely for 25 years; the democratically elected Arbeny government of Guatemala, which was followed by 40 years of brutal governments; the democratically elected Lumumba government of the Congo in 1962, which was followed by the violent dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko for 32 years; the democratically elected Allende government of Chile, which promised health, education, social and economic justice, which was replaced by a reign of terror and military dictatorship under General Pinochet now sought by Spain and other nations for human rights violations. Popularly elected leaders in Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines, Panama, Haiti and elsewhere were replaced by U.S. surrogates. The U.S. has opposed, assaulted and blockaded Cuba and its people for 40 years. The UN General Assembly voted 155 to 2 to condemn the U.S. for its blockade of Cuba in December 1998. The U.S. has maintained repressive governments on five continents in too many countries to name; all seeking to destroy the cultures that define the people, their history, character, values, arts, literature, music, with commercially exploitative products having no substantive worth and one overriding purpose — profits from the poor. A goal of U.S. policy is to entrench the belief that only one system works, capitalism, that only one culture has value, that of the U.S. and western European, and that history will end with the globalization of U.S. culture.

UDHR; ICCPR; ICESCR.



18. The Purpose of the U.S. Actions Being to Dominate, Control and Exploit Yugoslavia, Its People and Its Resources.

The long term purpose of all the acts complained of is to dominate, control and exploit the poor nations of the world and the poor people of the U.S. and other rich countries to further enrich and empower concentrations of wealth and neutralize the whole population of poor, overwhelmingly darker skinned people with fear, powerlessness, poverty, bread and circus.



19. The Means of the U.S. Being Military Power and Economic Coercion.

The United States with a near monopoly on nuclear weapons, military aircraft, missiles, advanced armored vehicles, firepower, equipment, and highly sophisticated technology continuously expands its physical power to destroy, expending more on its military power than the rest of the UN Security Council members combined. This year, U.S. military expenditures will be near 300 billion dollars. The demonized People’s Republic of China will spend 34 billion dollars, acquiring far less in destructive power for each dollar. The U.S. sells more destructive arms to other governments and groups seeking to overthrow governments than the rest of the arms selling countries combined. Often the intention is that they "kill each other," a preferred means of achieving domination. The U.S. does not sell arms it cannot destroy without incurring significant casualties. The U.S. uses its enormous economic power to coerce foreign governments to comply with its wishes, without regard to the interests of the people of those foreign countries. The threat of economic sanctions alone coerces countries to meet U.S. demands contrary to their sovereignty and self-interest.

The demographics in Kosovo are not a reason to grant independence. The Serbs are under represented in Kosovo. If we follow Mr Ashdown's logic then the Serbs should march to Kosovo on mass and pitch up tents so that they become an overnight majority. What then ?

It's a friggin joke how Western "civilization" perpetually stomps around, like an elephant in a green-house, in affairs that a) are none of their business, b) they haven't got the faintest clue about in terms of history and culture. Imperialism isn't dead - it has merely mutated.

Regarding mr. Blare, he's as successful a PM as he was a rock musician.

Avni Gjoni

All of these great achievements you mentioned where rights given to you while you and your province where a member of Yugoslavia. As a non Serb or Albanian who has actually traveled the region, I feel I am entitled to voice an opinion based on some first hand knowledge - to pretend that life is great in Kosovo and that you Albanians want to get along and have a big group hug is ludicrous. The fact is that if you are a non - Albanian in that region your life seems to be worth less than a dogs. If you want the land than don't hide behind propaganda. Stand up and take it through what ever means you want but don't assume that the whole world is blind. Oh wait a second you did try that in 1998, how well did that go without illegal international intervention? (I am embarrassed by my governments partaking in the illegal bombing of Serbia) Not so good eh? You have nothing to brag about.

"the prospects of peace and European integration lay ahead of the Balkans"

How imperialistic. Why should the 6 (almost 7) countries of the Balkans have to integrate into EU/NATO structures in order to be peaceful? Simple divide and conquor. Spain might be next with its rising population...ever heard of Catalonia?

“Belgrade had lost the moral right to administer Kosovo when only 5 percent of the population residing in the province is Serb. We also have to bear in mind that Serbia forced ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo in 1999”

The truly ironic part is that the Serb population is down to 5% as a result of ethnic cleansing.

Regardless of the outcome of the Kosovo status talks Serbia MUST change Kosovar perception of our Historical sites from one of personal liability to one of economic necessity.

Interesting.
It should not be forgotten that NATO engaged in an illeagal war, in which they are forcing Serbia to recognise.
Kosovo was/is an internal Serbian matter and no amount of distortions or manipulations will change that. The current talks is slowly allowing that to come out which will reach its crescendo by the time this whole NATO mess hits the UN.
Its obvious that even NATO don't want any type of real discussion on this matter as they will be exposed in due course.

200 Serbs have died? The Serbian army killed that many Albanians in a single hour when it was allowed to operate in Kosova. It is no wonder that not a single country in the world takes Serbia seriously...their hypocrisy is out of this world. Every single time I have had the chance to debate a Serb face to face on an intellectual level, they have always ended up screaming obscenities and claiming demographic genocide. So much for solid arguments....

To Avni Gjoni.

You really make me laugh Avni.
It is very nice what you are telling about the great democratic institutions in Kosovo, and the most representive human rights and 'rules of law'. It sounds very good when you don't know the real situation in Kosovo…
But as I can see, you know pretty much about your half country. So why don't you share your knowledge with us about the fantastic Kosovo. Why don’t you tell us about those tons of heroine smuggled every month through Kosovo. About the well being of the gipsy- and other non-Albanic population. About your government staff which fought as KLA in the Kosovo war. Let me guess, you probably never heard about such things happening in your great Kosovo?!?!

Sorry Avni, but you really made me laugh !
"Kosovo grants the right to every citizen to approach the institutions in their own language." - Yeah, right! You mean IF they manage to reach those institutions alive?!

Thank you Mr.Blair for the Justice, for saving the Albanian people from the injustice.Let it be more people like you in the future to stop the murders and ethnic cleansing.

Milan, thanks for your input. It seems that you are being sarcastic about what Avni wrote – it is easy to dismiss something without providing any counter-proof, isn’t it? Just because, to date, Kosova/o’s government shows a much better track record in upholding the most basic rights for its citizens, something must be wrong … Since Belgrade obviously hasn’t done so for the past century.
Kosova/o: recognizes Serbs, Turks, Roma, Bosniaks, etc. and gives them special rights when only about 10% of them, combined, make up the country.

Serbia: in their new constitution, doesn’t even mention any of the above, including Albanians. Very weak for a population that is more than 20% of Serbia (Albanians alone), don’t you think?

So yeah, unless you have something constructive to add, or disprove, with facts, please do – laughing at something and throwing your two cents about how “untrue” it is, does not invalidate the argument. As a matter of fact, since you haven’t countered it with anything useful, you’ve just enforced his point – bravo!

And please, enlighten us with this accusation of tons of heroin – are referring that very same scandal that was in the news not too long ago? The one where heroin that was caught and traced to some top officials in Belgrade? That sort of heroin? You are saying there is more of it? Please enlighten us! We need to catch all the criminals we can, so your input will be much appreciated. I am sure Serbia is crime free and flourishing as “THE” paradise in the world… right? It must be, according to you… otherwise, what have you “proved”? That there is no crime anywhere in the world but Kosova/o?

Good day to all.

Dear Avni
You made some great points there, but as i said before for the people that grew up in the Nationalist Era can only respond as a spoiled child that is wanting everything, and in this case the pro-serb that are just used to hear the things they want are barking like "dogs" to try and push you down with your opinion, i guess to be honest there no point writting here anymore it just shows that we as Albaninans why dont want to go back to shovenist and ingorance people you get in regards to this issue. obviesly your telling the truth as we grew up and lived and saw facts, unlike most of people that wright here and are used to read propaganda stories and belive them.
REATLITY KOSOVA IS FREE ALL READY LETS GET THAT STRAIGHT HERE, DONT SEE WHAT SERBIA CAN DO NO MORE>
thnx

The Albanians of Serbia's Kosovo province have shown for the past 8 years that they are unable or unwilling to take responsibility or action for stopping the intimidation, expulsion and killing of Serbs on the territory and damage or destruction to their property, not to mention the destruction and vandalism of the Serbian Orthodox churches there. Any 'moral' authority by the Albanians of Kosovo province to rule over others evaporated years and years ago, well before the 10th or 50th or 100th church was blown up or burned down, and well before the dozenth 'unsolved' drive-by shooting or street stabbing.

It is interesting to see the concessions that the EU is trying to make to Serbia to persuade them to give their land up for free. The Swedish suggestion for example to allow Serbia to join EU in return for giving away its land. This indicates that the EU recognizes that there is no legal basis for hiving off land from sovereign countries - at least, not since Nazi times - and they are trying bribery instead.

Ironically Blair's government helps fund a human rights organisation specialising in Minority Rights:
www.minorityrights.org

Its 2006 report starts as follows:

"Nowhere in Europe is there such segregation as Kosovo.
Thousands of people are still displaced and in camps.
Nowhere else are there so many ‘ethnically pure’ towns and
villages scattered across such a small province. Nowhere is
there such a level of fear for so many minorities that they
will be harassed simply for who they are. And perhaps
nowhere else in Europe is at such a high risk of ethnic
cleansing occurring in the near future – or even a risk of genocide."

"This is not a description of Kosovo in 1998 or in
2003. It is a description of Kosovo today. For the Serbs
and ‘other minorities’ – the Roma, Bosniaks (Slavic Muslims),
Croats, Turks and Albanians of Kosovo – who suffer
from expulsion from their homes, discrimination and
restrictions on speaking their own language, the pattern of
violence they have endured for so long may be about to be
entrenched as law in the new Kosovo, as the future status
talks continue behind closed doors in Vienna."

Politicians are the strongest adherents to the old adage "Never look back, never apologise" and Tony Bliar is a politician as well as a lot of other unpleasant things.

Dear All,

I am aware what i have written there and i stand to it. Kosovo has achieved something that Serbia has never attemted to do it.
Kosovo made its effort. and yes it true that kosovo institutions are far more transparent and democratic than han any intitution in our neighbouring countries.
After all it is the model that the international comunity proposed.

it´s a sad but true fact, that Albanians are not capable of living peacefully together even if they are making 100 % of the population.
I only mention the so called " Kanun ", because of which over 40.000 Albanians can´t leave their home without the danger to be killed.
or just think about the refusal to condemn the recent attack on a red-cross-vehicle transporting a serbian woman to the hospital.
all Albanians here stayed quiet. I call that the opposite of "humane".

but saying that, I will be immediately accused as a racist, even if the accusator don´t even seem to know what that term means.

so much for democratic and civilized living conditions.

but, whats so sad about it, is, that probably nobody will respond to this post, since Albanians here are only writing about things they like to hear...
it seems to be their only way of arguing.

Yeah right,you did well in Kosovo...like you did well in Iraq,right?:-)LOL.Anyway,Blair is a political goner so nobody cares anymore what he thinks!

I agree with Mr Blair, our troops did well and prevented Serbs and Albanians to kill each other, and fall into a civil war. Six years have passed and it is time now to let the Albanians, who are the majority, be independent to decide by themselves what is good for the people of Kosovo.

Mr.Prime Minister,a big Thank You from whole Kosova.Thank you for your help and support.Only time will tell how good you were in Kosova but be assured that kosovan albanians will remember you forever.We are very fortunate that in 21st century we have friends like UK,US,France,Israel,etc.Now is time to show to the world that we can live together,try to build the future for our children.

Prevent Albanians and serbs to kill eachother? how many have died? in kosovo since KFOR arrived? 22 albanians but over 200 serbs, so stop talking nonsense

Victor - By 'our troops' do you mean the KLA? Or are you British?

Peter - I agree entirely.

Yeah right,you did well in Kosovo...like you did well in Iraq,right?:-)
(Peter)

Peter they done better than Serbia, They stop ethnic cleansing

I don't see how Albanians who run a territory without even the most basic human rights have any moral right to gain another Albanian state.

I don't see how Albanians who run a territory without even the most basic human rights have any moral right to gain another Albanian state.

Ida, could please elaborate on this, because this I don't agree with it at all, I think it's complete nonesense. It's easy to just dismiss issues like that, prove it with examples.

To IDA: 100% I agree with you Ida. That’s the reason for me to be a supporter of unification of Kosovo with Albania, Ida. Even if someone who is the winner of NOBEL prize for peace, became a president of Serbia, that doesn’t mean nothing for us: we were struggling and we are struggling for a Kosovo as a new Albanian state as the first phase for unification with Albania,Ida. This ain't something new: everybody's talking.

Kate, when I say 'our troops', I mean the KFOR. The KLA is not a force anymore, didn't you know ?

Just political bantering for an overall bad job everywhere else...

The REAL irony is that everybody is claiming ethnic hemogony as Serbia's demon, yet it's Kosovo that gets to claim it's independence on the same principle...

Yes, you did well Blair.
Congratulations...

Ida - looking at Serbia's track record of enforcing human rights in the 20th century, it's hypocritical of you to criticize other countries in the region.

At any rate, that was never a civil war threat within Kosova, but it's nice having the Brits there.

IDA, you said this;
“I don't see how Albanians who run a territory without even the most basic human rights have any moral right to gain another Albanian state”

Let me make it clear to you, that Kosovo, has the most democratic institutions in the region, our framework on the self governance is far more advanced in the human rights and rule of law than the one that Serbia has.
Kosovo grants the right to every citizen to approach the institutions in their own language.
Kosovo Protection Force is one of the leading agencies helping the Serb returnees in the infrastructural projects in Kosovo.
I can continue like this as far as you can count.
We Kosovoars can be proud of our institutions, and what we achieved for 8 years with support of our allies.

What can you be proud of? Please do not come up with “former Yugoslavian incentive fund for underdeveloped regions.”

Name one thing you did for Kosovo community.
The late constitution you have adopted, does not even mention the Albanian, Roma, Hungarian (Magyar), and Turkish language.
It will take another 50 years of development of democracy in Serbia to equal Kosovo institutions.
Take for example the approach in the negotiations, it is LAME…

Avni Gjoni

Dear all

All along my arguments i have stressed out that although it is a very sensitive subject to both us Albanians and Serbs them selfs, but my point always was we have to look at the situation on the gorund and that is Serbia has lost ruling Kosova by force as it tryed for decades, my opinion is that this issue has never been dealt with properly before and now the time has come to settle it once and for all,and that is for Kosova to be its own state.
im sorry if its to painfull to face the reality,but we all know that there is not going back, now we both communities can sit and argue all our lives, but the fact and the matter is that there's over 2million people to try and make a better place to live in ,including Serbs, Turks, Roma...
as Mr Ashdown says:
"People have to face history. Thus Belgrade needs to take hold of reality and admit it had lost its moral right to claim administration over Kosovo"

Leave your natianal ego a side for a second and look on how there can be inprovments within Kosova and not point fingers at each other..
good day

Victor,

By your reasoning isn't it time that your government allow self determination for the people of Ireland and end 900 years of occupation?

Avni Gjoni, have you seen the film LIFE OF BRIAN especially the "what have the Romans ever done for us" scene. Claiming Kosovo as such a paradise for its Serbian inhabitants is bizarre and doesn't coincide with reality.

The new constitution of Serbia doesn't mention any other official languages as the only language that is official in all of Serbia is Serbian.

"Serbian language and Cyrillic script shall be in official use in the Republic of Serbia. Official use of other languages and scripts shall be regulated by the law based on the Constitution."

Hungarian, Slovak, Romanian, Rusyn and Croatian are all official in Vojvodina and Albanian & English in Kosovo.

Ashdown took an anti-Serbian view in the early 1990s and said similar things to "Serbia losing its moral right to claim administration over Kosovo" even before 24 March 1999. Blair just jumped on the bandwagon for the 78 days to attempt to get some sort of Falklands-esque popularity boost.

Serbs overthrew Milosevic and now he is dead. Ashdown acts as if Milosevic still runs Serbia and all Serbs are evil. What about all the Albanians in Presevo and why does he ignore the KLA and all the dead Serbs in Kosovo and Serb refugees from Kosovo?

It is with great interest to see the comments over the typecast of what Blair said but you would be interested in knowing that not everyone like the spin master outgoing PM Blair agrees that Kosovo is going well. However, he is just as defiant on Iraq as he is on any of his failed foreign intervention - what would one expect when many British citzens now know him as MR bLIAR.

The question asked put Mr Blair on the spot completly and it was "given that 200,000 people are unable to return, do you not feel that Kosovo has been a complete failure?"

It is clear that many in the UK Parliment do not see through Blairs rhetoric - he lost credibility in Iraq and Kosovo is unravelling too.

sorry, i forgot to add that it is now the UN that has contributed to an even larger number of illegal albanians in kosovo. before the war, we heard that there were 1.4mil ethnic albanians in kosovo. all of a sudden the war is over, and there are 2 million! how did this magic happen? maybe the next time we blink the number will be 2.5mil.
i think that europe is afraid to let these people run loose through europe and want to leave kosovo out of the eu.

Kosovo is so democratic, so advanced, so well organised, that it is the poorest region in Europe (and will remain so) and is probably the largest hub for criminal activity in Europe. When people talk about forced prostitution in the UK they invariably talk about the "Albanian problem". You might think highly of yourselves, but in western Europe you have the image you deserve - that of vagabonds and thieves who will provide nothing to Europe either economically, culturally,etc,etc.

RE: Paddy Ashdown

Paddy Ashdown credibility is about as low as the UCK/KLA run Kosovo Albanian Leadership.

Paddy Ashdown could not govern Bosnia Herzegovina and summarily purged democratically elected Serbian Officials in the RS Republic. He has no credibility to talk about morality or democratic principles.

However, his governship in Bosnia Herzegovina is not far from past European Dictatorships.

RE: Tony Blair

"we did well"

Read the indictment of the illegal bombing of the former Yugoslavia -you did very well.


The Governments, Organizations and Individuals named herein are charged with:

Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity and Other Offenses in Violation of the Principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal (Nuremberg), the Hague Regulations (Hague) and Geneva Conventions (Geneva) and Other International and National Laws;

Grave Violations of the Charter of the United Nations (UN Charter), the North Atlantic Treaty (NAT), other international treaties, International Law, the Federal Constitution and Domestic Laws of the United States, the Basic Laws of Other Nations Including the United Kingdom, the Federal Republic of Germany, Turkey, the Netherlands, Hungary, Italy, Spain and other Governments of NATO members and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Grave Violations of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), the Genocide Convention, and Other International Covenants, Conventions, Treaties, Declarations and Domestic Laws named herein.

A. Defendants

1. President William J. Clinton, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Secretary of Defense William Cohen and Commanding Generals, Admirals, U.S. personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the U.S. military bomber and assault aircraft, U.S. military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the United States personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

2. The United Kingdom, Prime Minister Tony Blair, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and Commanding Generals, Admirals, U.K. personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the U.K. military bomber and assault aircraft, U.K. military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the United Kingdom personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

3. The Federal Republic of Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, the Foreign Minister, the Defense Minister and Commanding Generals, Admirals, German personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the German military bomber and assault aircraft, German military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the government of the Federal Republic of Germany personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

4. The Government of every NATO country that participated directly in the assaults on Yugoslavia with aircraft, missiles, or personnel and Commanding Generals, Admirals, NATO personnel directly involved in designating targets, flight crews and deck crews of the NATO military bomber and assault aircraft, NATO military personnel directly involved in targeting, preparing and launching missiles at Yugoslavia, the governments of the NATO countries’ personnel causing, condoning or failing to prevent violence in Yugoslavia before and during NATO occupation and Others to be named.

5. The Governments of Turkey, Hungary, Italy and others who permitted the use of airbases on their territory to be used by U.S., or other military aircraft and missiles for direct assault on Yugoslavia.

6. The North American Treaty Organization (NATO), Secretary General Javier Solano, Supreme Commander, General Wesley K. Clark

7. For Condemnation: Each NATO member that voted to authorize military assaults on Yugoslavia.







B. The Charges

1. Planning and Executing the Dismemberment, Segregation and Impoverishment of Yugoslavia.

The United States, Germany, NATO and other defendants engaged in a course of conduct beginning in, or before 1991 intended to break the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia into many parts, segregate different ethnic, religious and other groups among and within newly balkanized borders, weaken the Slav, Serb, Muslim and other populations by causing and prolonging internal violence and by direct assaults by the United States and certain NATO members. As a consequence Yugoslavia, which had 25 million people in an integrated society and economy, is now comprised of many small nations, the largest of which is Serbia. Defendants intend to divide Yugoslavia until all parts of Yugoslavia have fewer than 5 million people, each to be overwhelmingly of a single ethnic origin and religion, to have severely impaired economies largely dominated by foreign interests, in which two groups, Orthodox Christian Serbs and Muslims suffer severest casualties, most extensive property damage, a vast reduction of productivity now down by three-quarters or more, and a generation of impoverishment.

UN Charter; Declaration on the Inadmissibility of Intervention in the Domestic Affairs of States and the Protection of their Independence and Sovereignty (Non Intervention Decl.), 1965 USGA Res. 2131.



2.Inflicting, Inciting and Enhancing Violence between Muslims and Slavs.

The United States and other defendants engaged in a course of conduct beginning in or before 1991, to cause Muslims and Orthodox Christian Slavs to engage in protracted fratricidal violence, in wars of attrition, similar to conflicts in Afghanistan and Chechnya between Muslims and Russian Slavs, which caused death, destruction and division in Bosnia, Kosovo and elsewhere between the groups and dangerous frictions and enmity between two major enemies of the U.S., Slavic peoples and Muslims, in other regions, weakening both. Tactics included both providing and depriving select Muslim groups of arms to attack others, or adequately defend themselves in Bosnia; motivating, training and supplying KLA with arms to attack Yugoslav police and military to seize control of Kosovo during NATO occupation and attack Serbs and others; preventing outside efforts to prevent and control the violence; committing, causing and condoning violence against persons displaced by U.S. and NATO bombing campaigns, and by KLA and Yugoslav police and military ground actions; causing and supporting clashes between Yugoslav military/police/civilian groups and KLA/paramilitary/civilian groups; condoning and failing to prevent assaults on displaced persons returning to and persons who remained in Kosovo, both before and after the NATO/U.S. occupation of Kosovo. In 1999, the U.S. caused the largest numbers of deaths, injuries and destruction by aerial and missile assaults against all elements in the population and its life support systems.

UN Charter, Art. 2; Non Intervention Decl.; Resolution on the Definition of Aggression (Res. on Aggression), 1997 UNGA Res. 3314.



3. Preventing and Disrupting Efforts to Maintain Unity, Peace and Stability in Yugoslavia.

From the beginning of its efforts to implement its plans for dismemberment and destruction of Yugoslavia, the U.S. acted to prevent any interference, negotiation, or other efforts within Yugoslavia, or by other nations, leaders, or individuals to prevent the accomplishment of its intended purposes. Its techniques included political, military and economic threats and control of highly publicized peace negotiations much like those at Dayton, Ohio, during the Bosnia struggle, at Rambouillet, France, in 1999, which created an appearance of earnest peace negotiations, but offered Yugoslavia only two choices, agree to foreign military occupation, or expect a devastating military assault.

UN Charter; Non Intervention Declaration; Resolution on Aggression; Pact of Paris 1928, Art I and II.



4. Destroying the Peace-Making Role of the United Nations.

The United States acted and coerced other nations to act to block the United Nations from performing its duties under the UN Charter to prevent conflict, control violence and maintain peace in Yugoslavia in violation of the Charter of the UN and threatening its viability as a international institution capable of maintaining peace and ending the scourge of war.

UN Charter; Non Intervention Decl.; Resolution on Aggression, Pact of Paris 1928, Art I and II.



5. Using NATO for Military Aggression against and Occupation of Non-Compliant Poor Countries.

The United States acted and coerced other nations to act to cause NATO to authorize direct military assaults on Yugoslavia in violation of the UN Charter and the North Atlantic Treaty relying overwhelmingly on U.S. weaponry and military technology and to cause NATO members to provide and finance the majority of the military forces to occupy Kosovo for the foreseeable future thereby employing the wealth and power of the rich former colonial powers of Europe against the poor and defenseless people of Yugoslavia.

United Nations Charter; North Atlantic Treaty 1949, Art. I.





6. Killing and Injuring a Defenseless Population throughout Yugoslavia.

Beginning on, or before March 24, 1999, the United States, without a declaration of war by the Congress, aided and abetted by certain NATO members, including the United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands, as well as Hungary, Croatia, Italy and others, commenced a war of missile and aerial bombing assaults, often indiscriminate in its targeting, against the populations of Yugoslavia, intentionally killing and injuring many thousands of Serbs, Albanians, Romas, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, Roman Catholics, foreign nationals throughout Yugoslavia with malice aforethought.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Nuremberg, Principle VI a, b and c; U.S. Constitution, Art. I, Sec. 8, cl. II.



7. Planning, Announcing and Executing Attacks Intended to Assassinate the Head of Government, Other Government Leaders and Selected Civilians.

The United States planned, announced and carried out missile and aerial bombardment attacks intended to assassinate the Head of Government of Yugoslavia, members of his family, other government leaders and selected civilians to destroy existing government leadership and terrorize it and its closest personal support into submission. U.N. Charter, Art. 2, Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crimes Against Internationally Protected Persons (Protected Persons Convention); U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10; U.S. Presidential Executive Order 12333 (Ex.Order 12333); Geneva Conventions 1977, Protocol I Additional (Geneva 1977), Art. 48, 51.



8. Destroying and Damaging Economic, Social, Cultural, Medical, Diplomatic and Religious Resources, Properties and Facilities throughout Yugoslavia.

Beginning on, or before March 24, 1999, the United States, aided and abetted by certain NATO members, including United Kingdom, Germany, Turkey, Spain and the Netherlands and others including Croatia, Hungary and Italy, commenced a systematic missile and aerial bombing assault on resources, properties and economic, social, cultural, medical, diplomatic and religious facilities intentionally destroying and damaging them throughout Yugoslavia to crush the productive, economic, social, cultural, diplomatic and religious viability of the whole society.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Geneva 1977, Protocol I, Additional, Art. 48, 52, 53; UN Charter, Art. 2; Protected Persons Convention; U.S. Army Field Manual 27-10; Exec. Order 12333; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51; ICESCR.



9. Attacking Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia.

Beginning on or before March 24, 1999, the United States, aided and abetted by others, for the specific purpose of depriving the population of Yugoslavia of food, water, electric power, food production, medicines, medical care and other essentials to their survival, engaged in the systematic destruction and damage by missiles and aerial bombardment of food production and storage facilities, drinking water and irrigation works for agriculture, fertilizer, insecticide, pharmaceutical, hospitals and health care facilities, among other objects essential to human survival.

Hague 1907, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1949, Art. 19; Nuremberg 1970, Principles Via, b and c; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 54.



10. Attacking Facilities Containing Dangerous Substances and Forces.

The United States attacked chemical plants and storage facilities, petroleum and natural gas refining, processing and storage facilities, fertilizer plants and other facilities and locations for the specific purpose of releasing and scattering toxic, radioactive and other dangerous substances and forces into the atmosphere, soil, ground water and food chain to poison the environment and injure the population.

Nuremberg Principle VI, Hague, Art. 22 and 23, Protocol for the Prohibition of the Use in War of Asphyxiating, Poisonous or Other Gases, Geneva 1925 (Poisonous Substances Protocol); Geneva 1977, Protocol I Additional, Art. 48, 51, 56.



11. Using Depleted Uranium, Cluster Bombs and Other Prohibited Weapons.

The United States used prohibited weapons capable of mass destruction and inflicting indiscriminate death and suffering against the population of all Yugoslavia. Despite knowledge of its deadly long-term effect on life and warnings of the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission, the U.S. attacked Yugoslavia with depleted uranium missiles, bombs and bullets. These depleted uranium weapons spread radioactive matter into the atmosphere, soil, ground water, food chain and solid objects, placing the Yugoslav population at risk of death, genetic damage, cancers, tumors, leukemia and other injuries for generations. Cluster bombs were used extensively, spraying deadly razor sharp metal shards over wide areas against hospitals, churches, mosques, schools, apartment developments and other heavily populated places inflicting death, injury and property damage. The use of other illegal weapons is under continuing investigation.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23, Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51, 54, 55, POONA Indictment for the Subversion of Science and technology 1978 (POONA Indictment).



12. Waging War on the Environment.

The United States aerial and missile assault intentionally created a widespread, long-term and severe environmental disaster in Yugoslavia. Air pollution from overflights alone multiplied normal impurities in the atmosphere. Thousands of tons of explosives unleashed enormous quantities of chemicals into the air, raised clouds of dust and debris from places hit and started fires that often raged for days. Chemical, petrochemical, oil and gas refinery, storage and transmission facilities purposely targeted in the vicinity of Belgrade, Novi Sad, Nis and other major cities exposed huge populations to dangerous and noxious pollution. Depleted uranium scattered across Kosovo and the remainder of Serbia will threaten life for generations.

Hague, Art. 22 and 23; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 51, 54, 55; Stockholm Declaration of the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment 1972; Principles I, II, (UN Conf. on Human Environment), et al.



13. Imposing Sanctions through the UN that Are a Genocidal Crime against Humanity to Achieve Impoverishment and Debilitation of the People of Yugoslavia.

The United States began an economic attack on Yugoslavia designed to break it up politically and tear it down economically before 1989. It caused the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to use its strongest shock therapy to attack Yugoslav productivity, add to its foreign debt burden and expose national wealth to foreign capital by forcing removal of trade barriers and privatizing vital public industry, commerce, utilities and facilities. In May 1991 U.S. Secretary of State Baker stopped all U.S. aid programs to all six Yugoslav Republics and vetoed future IMF credits, creating an enormous economic incentive and powerful political argument for political opposition to Belgrade to separate other Republics from Serbia. The U.S. forced UN sanctions against Yugoslavia, but relieved Republics that seceded from Yugoslavia of sanctions. Such sanctions devastated the entire economy of Yugoslavia to the degree that a normal growth rate free of U.S. coercion would require 30 years to return Yugoslavia to its 1989 levels of productivity. Per capita production value for all six Republics of Yugoslavia in 1989 was $6220. Today for Serbia and Montenegro, the remaining Republics of Yugoslavia, it is $1510. Ninety percent of all trade was among the six republics before the break-up. All former republics have suffered economically, but Yugoslavia now, with barely 40% of its 1990 population, including Kosovo, has had a far greater decline economically than the favored northern Republics of Slovenia and Croatia, which are today more overwhelmingly Roman Catholic than before their secession. The sanctions against Yugoslavia continue and Serbia, excluding Kosovo, is barred from receiving any planned reparations and aid to rebuild from bomb damage and economic attrition. The sanctions have had a far more damaging effect on life, health, the economy and the quality of life in Yugoslavia than the military assault, increasing death rates, lowering life expectation, reducing nutrition and health care and driving production down. As in Iraq, and elsewhere, the sanctions are an economic crime, a crime against humanity and genocide.

Nuremberg, Principle VI c, Crimes Against Humanity; Genocide Convention; Geneva 1977, Art. 48, 54, 55.



14. Creating an Illegal Ad-Hoc Criminal Tribunal to Destroy and Demonize Serb Leadership.

The United States acting through defendant Madeleine Albright coerced the UN Security Council to create ad hoc criminal tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda in violation of the UN Charter to destroy and demonize enemy leaders in those two countries and threaten leaders elsewhere. The UN Charter does not authorize creation of criminal tribunals. The U.S. strongly opposes the International Criminal Tribunal treaty approved by 120 nations at Rome in July 1998 and in the process of ratification by nations now, because it does not intend to subject its leaders or military forces to the jurisdiction of an independent international Court and the rule of international law. By targeting individual enemies in ad hoc courts and charging them with genocide, it achieves their isolation internationally, pressures their own countries to remove them from power, corrupts and politicizes justice and uses the appearance of neutral international law to adjudicate and punish enemies as war criminals and establish itself as an innocent champion of justice.

UN Charter, Statute of the International Court of Justice (Statute ICJ); UDHR; ICCPR.



15. Using Controlled International Media to Create Support for U.S. Assaults Anywhere and to Demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, Serbs and Muslims as Genocidal Murderers.

The United States defendants have systematically controlled, directed, manipulated, misinformed and restricted press and media coverage concerning Yugoslavia and the U.S. assaults on it to gain public support for the massive bombardment of a defenseless Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, as had been done in Libya, Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan and elsewhere. The international media has supported and celebrated U.S. political goals of further fragmentation of Yugoslavia and other areas, segregating each region; demonizing selected government officials, other leaders, generals, military officers and soldiers as genocidal murderers; controlling other nations by the threat of popularly supported missile and air assaults and crippling economic sanctions and stimulating acceptance and support from the U.S. public for future operations against other nations and to increase military budgets to support an expanding global role for U.S. military presence and control.



16. Establishing the Long-term Military Occupation of Strategic Parts of Yugoslavia by NATO Forces.

The United States has coerced defendant NATO members and others to provide and support military occupation forces for the occupation of Kosovo, as it did in Bosnia, in order to physically control key parts of Yugoslavia to enforce permanent separation and segregation of States and peoples, to further injure the populations, to create barriers to immigration from Asia Minor, Arab states in the Middle East, North Africa, and former southern republics of the USSR, and elsewhere; to provide a buffer between Europe and the regions described by controlling the territory of divided, segregated and impoverished Slavs, Serbs, Orthodox Christians, Albanians, and others; to exploit the resources of the region; and to prepare and condition NATO members for future participation against other nations.

UN Charter; NAT, Art. I; Non Intervention Decl.



17. Attempting to Destroy the Sovereignty, Right to Self Determination, Democracy and Culture of the Slavic, Muslim, Christian and Other Peoples of Yugoslavia.

The United States has attempted to destroy the Sovereignty of Yugoslavia, the rights of its people to self determination, the democratic institutions it has developed and its culture that defines the heritage, values and traditions of its people. The United States overthrew the democratically elected Mossadegh administration in Iran in 1953, which it replaced with the Shah of Iran, who ruled absolutely for 25 years; the democratically elected Arbeny government of Guatemala, which was followed by 40 years of brutal governments; the democratically elected Lumumba government of the Congo in 1962, which was followed by the violent dictatorship of Mobutu Sese Seko for 32 years; the democratically elected Allende government of Chile, which promised health, education, social and economic justice, which was replaced by a reign of terror and military dictatorship under General Pinochet now sought by Spain and other nations for human rights violations. Popularly elected leaders in Vietnam, Pakistan, the Philippines, Panama, Haiti and elsewhere were replaced by U.S. surrogates. The U.S. has opposed, assaulted and blockaded Cuba and its people for 40 years. The UN General Assembly voted 155 to 2 to condemn the U.S. for its blockade of Cuba in December 1998. The U.S. has maintained repressive governments on five continents in too many countries to name; all seeking to destroy the cultures that define the people, their history, character, values, arts, literature, music, with commercially exploitative products having no substantive worth and one overriding purpose — profits from the poor. A goal of U.S. policy is to entrench the belief that only one system works, capitalism, that only one culture has value, that of the U.S. and western European, and that history will end with the globalization of U.S. culture.

UDHR; ICCPR; ICESCR.



18. The Purpose of the U.S. Actions Being to Dominate, Control and Exploit Yugoslavia, Its People and Its Resources.

The long term purpose of all the acts complained of is to dominate, control and exploit the poor nations of the world and the poor people of the U.S. and other rich countries to further enrich and empower concentrations of wealth and neutralize the whole population of poor, overwhelmingly darker skinned people with fear, powerlessness, poverty, bread and circus.



19. The Means of the U.S. Being Military Power and Economic Coercion.

The United States with a near monopoly on nuclear weapons, military aircraft, missiles, advanced armored vehicles, firepower, equipment, and highly sophisticated technology continuously expands its physical power to destroy, expending more on its military power than the rest of the UN Security Council members combined. This year, U.S. military expenditures will be near 300 billion dollars. The demonized People’s Republic of China will spend 34 billion dollars, acquiring far less in destructive power for each dollar. The U.S. sells more destructive arms to other governments and groups seeking to overthrow governments than the rest of the arms selling countries combined. Often the intention is that they "kill each other," a preferred means of achieving domination. The U.S. does not sell arms it cannot destroy without incurring significant casualties. The U.S. uses its enormous economic power to coerce foreign governments to comply with its wishes, without regard to the interests of the people of those foreign countries. The threat of economic sanctions alone coerces countries to meet U.S. demands contrary to their sovereignty and self-interest.

The demographics in Kosovo are not a reason to grant independence. The Serbs are under represented in Kosovo. If we follow Mr Ashdown's logic then the Serbs should march to Kosovo on mass and pitch up tents so that they become an overnight majority. What then ?

It's a friggin joke how Western "civilization" perpetually stomps around, like an elephant in a green-house, in affairs that a) are none of their business, b) they haven't got the faintest clue about in terms of history and culture. Imperialism isn't dead - it has merely mutated.

Regarding mr. Blare, he's as successful a PM as he was a rock musician.

Avni Gjoni

All of these great achievements you mentioned where rights given to you while you and your province where a member of Yugoslavia. As a non Serb or Albanian who has actually traveled the region, I feel I am entitled to voice an opinion based on some first hand knowledge - to pretend that life is great in Kosovo and that you Albanians want to get along and have a big group hug is ludicrous. The fact is that if you are a non - Albanian in that region your life seems to be worth less than a dogs. If you want the land than don't hide behind propaganda. Stand up and take it through what ever means you want but don't assume that the whole world is blind. Oh wait a second you did try that in 1998, how well did that go without illegal international intervention? (I am embarrassed by my governments partaking in the illegal bombing of Serbia) Not so good eh? You have nothing to brag about.

"the prospects of peace and European integration lay ahead of the Balkans"

How imperialistic. Why should the 6 (almost 7) countries of the Balkans have to integrate into EU/NATO structures in order to be peaceful? Simple divide and conquor. Spain might be next with its rising population...ever heard of Catalonia?

“Belgrade had lost the moral right to administer Kosovo when only 5 percent of the population residing in the province is Serb. We also have to bear in mind that Serbia forced ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo in 1999”

The truly ironic part is that the Serb population is down to 5% as a result of ethnic cleansing.

Regardless of the outcome of the Kosovo status talks Serbia MUST change Kosovar perception of our Historical sites from one of personal liability to one of economic necessity.

Interesting.
It should not be forgotten that NATO engaged in an illeagal war, in which they are forcing Serbia to recognise.
Kosovo was/is an internal Serbian matter and no amount of distortions or manipulations will change that. The current talks is slowly allowing that to come out which will reach its crescendo by the time this whole NATO mess hits the UN.
Its obvious that even NATO don't want any type of real discussion on this matter as they will be exposed in due course.

200 Serbs have died? The Serbian army killed that many Albanians in a single hour when it was allowed to operate in Kosova. It is no wonder that not a single country in the world takes Serbia seriously...their hypocrisy is out of this world. Every single time I have had the chance to debate a Serb face to face on an intellectual level, they have always ended up screaming obscenities and claiming demographic genocide. So much for solid arguments....

To Avni Gjoni.

You really make me laugh Avni.
It is very nice what you are telling about the great democratic institutions in Kosovo, and the most representive human rights and 'rules of law'. It sounds very good when you don't know the real situation in Kosovo…
But as I can see, you know pretty much about your half country. So why don't you share your knowledge with us about the fantastic Kosovo. Why don’t you tell us about those tons of heroine smuggled every month through Kosovo. About the well being of the gipsy- and other non-Albanic population. About your government staff which fought as KLA in the Kosovo war. Let me guess, you probably never heard about such things happening in your great Kosovo?!?!

Sorry Avni, but you really made me laugh !
"Kosovo grants the right to every citizen to approach the institutions in their own language." - Yeah, right! You mean IF they manage to reach those institutions alive?!

Thank you Mr.Blair for the Justice, for saving the Albanian people from the injustice.Let it be more people like you in the future to stop the murders and ethnic cleansing.

Milan, thanks for your input. It seems that you are being sarcastic about what Avni wrote – it is easy to dismiss something without providing any counter-proof, isn’t it? Just because, to date, Kosova/o’s government shows a much better track record in upholding the most basic rights for its citizens, something must be wrong … Since Belgrade obviously hasn’t done so for the past century.
Kosova/o: recognizes Serbs, Turks, Roma, Bosniaks, etc. and gives them special rights when only about 10% of them, combined, make up the country.

Serbia: in their new constitution, doesn’t even mention any of the above, including Albanians. Very weak for a population that is more than 20% of Serbia (Albanians alone), don’t you think?

So yeah, unless you have something constructive to add, or disprove, with facts, please do – laughing at something and throwing your two cents about how “untrue” it is, does not invalidate the argument. As a matter of fact, since you haven’t countered it with anything useful, you’ve just enforced his point – bravo!

And please, enlighten us with this accusation of tons of heroin – are referring that very same scandal that was in the news not too long ago? The one where heroin that was caught and traced to some top officials in Belgrade? That sort of heroin? You are saying there is more of it? Please enlighten us! We need to catch all the criminals we can, so your input will be much appreciated. I am sure Serbia is crime free and flourishing as “THE” paradise in the world… right? It must be, according to you… otherwise, what have you “proved”? That there is no crime anywhere in the world but Kosova/o?

Good day to all.

Dear Avni
You made some great points there, but as i said before for the people that grew up in the Nationalist Era can only respond as a spoiled child that is wanting everything, and in this case the pro-serb that are just used to hear the things they want are barking like "dogs" to try and push you down with your opinion, i guess to be honest there no point writting here anymore it just shows that we as Albaninans why dont want to go back to shovenist and ingorance people you get in regards to this issue. obviesly your telling the truth as we grew up and lived and saw facts, unlike most of people that wright here and are used to read propaganda stories and belive them.
REATLITY KOSOVA IS FREE ALL READY LETS GET THAT STRAIGHT HERE, DONT SEE WHAT SERBIA CAN DO NO MORE>
thnx

The Albanians of Serbia's Kosovo province have shown for the past 8 years that they are unable or unwilling to take responsibility or action for stopping the intimidation, expulsion and killing of Serbs on the territory and damage or destruction to their property, not to mention the destruction and vandalism of the Serbian Orthodox churches there. Any 'moral' authority by the Albanians of Kosovo province to rule over others evaporated years and years ago, well before the 10th or 50th or 100th church was blown up or burned down, and well before the dozenth 'unsolved' drive-by shooting or street stabbing.

It is interesting to see the concessions that the EU is trying to make to Serbia to persuade them to give their land up for free. The Swedish suggestion for example to allow Serbia to join EU in return for giving away its land. This indicates that the EU recognizes that there is no legal basis for hiving off land from sovereign countries - at least, not since Nazi times - and they are trying bribery instead.

Ironically Blair's government helps fund a human rights organisation specialising in Minority Rights:
www.minorityrights.org

Its 2006 report starts as follows:

"Nowhere in Europe is there such segregation as Kosovo.
Thousands of people are still displaced and in camps.
Nowhere else are there so many ‘ethnically pure’ towns and
villages scattered across such a small province. Nowhere is
there such a level of fear for so many minorities that they
will be harassed simply for who they are. And perhaps
nowhere else in Europe is at such a high risk of ethnic
cleansing occurring in the near future – or even a risk of genocide."

"This is not a description of Kosovo in 1998 or in
2003. It is a description of Kosovo today. For the Serbs
and ‘other minorities’ – the Roma, Bosniaks (Slavic Muslims),
Croats, Turks and Albanians of Kosovo – who suffer
from expulsion from their homes, discrimination and
restrictions on speaking their own language, the pattern of
violence they have endured for so long may be about to be
entrenched as law in the new Kosovo, as the future status
talks continue behind closed doors in Vienna."

Politicians are the strongest adherents to the old adage "Never look back, never apologise" and Tony Bliar is a politician as well as a lot of other unpleasant things.

Dear All,

I am aware what i have written there and i stand to it. Kosovo has achieved something that Serbia has never attemted to do it.
Kosovo made its effort. and yes it true that kosovo institutions are far more transparent and democratic than han any intitution in our neighbouring countries.
After all it is the model that the international comunity proposed.

it´s a sad but true fact, that Albanians are not capable of living peacefully together even if they are making 100 % of the population.
I only mention the so called " Kanun ", because of which over 40.000 Albanians can´t leave their home without the danger to be killed.
or just think about the refusal to condemn the recent attack on a red-cross-vehicle transporting a serbian woman to the hospital.
all Albanians here stayed quiet. I call that the opposite of "humane".

but saying that, I will be immediately accused as a racist, even if the accusator don´t even seem to know what that term means.

so much for democratic and civilized living conditions.

but, whats so sad about it, is, that probably nobody will respond to this post, since Albanians here are only writing about things they like to hear...
it seems to be their only way of arguing.