29.3.2007 by admin.

Brit “Hostage” Drama Pales in Comparison to MI6 and CIA Crimes Against Iran

by Kurt Nimmo

Global Research, March 29, 2007
Another Day in the Empire

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“Perhaps we should get some perspective by imagining how we might react if the Iranians had occupied France and were patrolling the English channel,” runs a post on the UK Telegraph, responding to the capture of 15 British sailors by Iran.

Indeed. But I can think of one better.

Perhaps we’d get some perspective if we realized MI6 and the CIA plotted against the democratically elected government of Mohammad Mossadegh in 1953. “If there had not been a military coup, there would not have been 25 years of the Shah’s brutal regime, there would not have been a revolution in 1979 and a government of clerics,” Ibrahim Yazdi, a former foreign minister and leading member of a political party that traces its origins to Mossadegh’s National Front, told the Christian Science Monitor on the 50th anniversary of the coup and installation of the Shah. “Now it seems that the Americans are pushing towards the same direction again. That shows they have not learned anything from history.”

“When Iranians rose up against the Shah with cries of ‘Death to the American Shah!,’ when their new regime emerged as bitterly anti-American, and when a group of them took American diplomats hostage in 1979, many Americans wondered how this could have happened in a country they had always considered friendly,” Stephen Kinzer, author of All the Shah’s Men, told the History News Network. “Once they understand what the United States did to Iran in 1953, they will understand why so many Iranians became angry at the United States.”

“For many Iranians, the coup was a tragedy from which their country has never recovered. Perhaps because Mossadegh represents a future denied, his memory has approached myth,” Dan De Luce writes for the Guardian. “Beyond Iran, America remains deeply resented for siding with authoritarian rule in the region.”

Of course, the average American, who likely would have a difficult time finding Iran on a map, is almost completely ignorant of these historical facts. He does not know that the Shah’s secret police, SAVAK, trained by the CIA and Israel’s Mossad, “became a law unto itself, having legal authority to arrest and detain suspected persons indefinitely” and “operated its own prisons in Tehran (the Komiteh and Evin facilities) and, many suspected, throughout the country as well. SAVAK’s torture methods included electric shock, whipping, beating, inserting broken glass and pouring boiling water into the rectum, tying weights to the testicles, and the extraction of teeth and nails,” according to the Federation of American Scientists.

Finally, Britain’s largest newspaper, in fact the highest circulation newspaper in the world, neocon Rupert Murdoch’s Sun, amidst banner ads of naked women showing off curvy derrieres, declares Leading Seaman Faye Turney “was forced on the orders of ranting president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to write a letter of apology to the Iranian people.”

Even if true, this is a shade better than being kidnapped in Afghanistan, Iraq, or on the streets of Milan, Italy, and “extraordinarily” rendered by the CIA and sent to Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Morocco, or Uzbekistan to be tortured.

No doubt Ahmadinejad’s alleged rant is mild when compared to water boarding or the sort of severe trauma inflicted on prisoners at the Bagram torture facility (said to be comparable to being run over by a bus) or for that matter rape by way of chemical light at Abu Ghraib.

Global Research Articles by Kurt Nimmo

http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=viewArticle&code=20070329&articleId=5224

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29.3.2007 by admin.

Die US Air Force hat jetzt angkündigt, daß
sie die Angriffe, die immer mehr im Internet
auf US-Streitkräfte gezeigt werden, nicht mehr
sang- und klanglos hinnehmen werden.

Vielmehr wird jetzt ein Programm gestartet, um
in Zukunft diese Seiten anzugreifen und zu
zerstören.

> http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/…cyber-war_N.htm

Kommentar:

Seit dem Vietnamkrieg haben die US Streitkräfte
gelernt, daß Bilder aus den Kampfgebieten die eige-
ne Bevölkerung in ihrer Begeisterung für die
US-Truppen stark dämpfen kann.

Dnach wurden strikte Maßnahmen ergriffen, damit
sich solche Bilder nicht mehr auf den eigenen
Bildschirmen wiederholen.

In dieser Linie sind jetzt die Maßnahmen zu
sehen, andere Internetseiten anzugreifen, die
solche Bilder bzw. heute Filme zeigen.

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29.3.2007 by admin.

EU’s Rehn says donor support needed for Kosovo

29/03/2007

While it stands ready to lead the post-settlement efforts in Kosovo, the EU cannot provide all of the required resources from its own budget, the bloc’s enlargement commissioner said on Wednesday.

(EurActiv - 29/03/07; AP, AFP, Reuters, DPA, FT, Beta, B92, Makfax, EUROPA - 28/03/07)

EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn. [Getty Images]

The EU is ready to play a “leading role” in Kosovo after its status issue has been resolved, EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said on Wednesday (March 28th), two days after UN special envoy Martti Ahtisaari unveiled his final proposal for a settlement.

The document, drawn up by the former Finnish president and sent to the Security Council on Monday, envisions EU-supervised independence for Kosovo, described as the “only viable option”.

“The essence of the decision on Kosovo is European unity,” Rehn told a European Parliament (EP) committee on Wednesday. “We must continue to support President Ahtisaari and his proposal with consistent determination in the UN Security Council. There is no gain in delaying the decision. The UN has already been running Kosovo for eight years. The status quo is not sustainable.”

The Security Council is expected to open a debate on Ahtisaari’s Kosovo plan shortly after Britain takes over the chairmanship of the 15-nation body at the beginning of April, and to decide on the province’s future status later this year.

Addressing the EP on Wednesday, Rehn made it clear that EU planning for “the largest civilian crisis management mission” the Union has ever undertaken was well advanced.

Under the plan, once the status issue has been resolved, the EU will send up to 2,000 international staff to Kosovo, including up to 1,500 police officers, magistrates and customs officials.

Citing an internal report, drafted by Rehn and EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana, the Financial Times reported on Wednesday that the 120-day transitional period, during which UNMIK would hand over responsibilities to the EU, would likely be “highly sensitive in political and security terms”.

According to the paper, the EU mission would be fully operational “for a minimum period of two years”.

“The EU will play a leading role both in the running of international civilian missions and in support of Kosovo’s European aspirations,” Rehn told EU lawmakers Wednesday. “We have no exit strategy, only an entry strategy.”

The estimated funding needed for the first three years, he said, would be up to 1.5 billion euros. This would cover Kosovo’s share of the Yugoslav debt, the cost of status implementation, economic development needs and the cost of the international presence.

“Resources cannot come from the EU budget alone,” said Rehn. “EU member states and our international partners must share the responsibility.”

The EU expects the United States and international financial institutions to contribute some of the resources.

Before debate begins in the Security Council, political directors from the six nations in the Contact Group for Kosovo — Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the United States — met in London on Wednesday.

“The Contact Group remains united in its shared sense of responsibility to promote peace in Kosovo and in the region, despite any differences of perception,” the British liaison office in Pristina said in a statement.

Russia, which is also one of the five permanent members of the Security Council, is the only country in the Contact Group that has voiced opposition to Ahtisaari’s proposal. It has been calling for further negotiations between Belgrade and Pristina.

http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/03/29/feature-01

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29.3.2007 by admin.

New trial for Ovcara defendants

29/03/2007

Those allegedly responsible for the summary executions of more than 200 prisoners following the fall of Vukovar have again gone on trial in Belgrade, with most denying responsibility.

By Davor Konjikusic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade – 29/03/07

Proceedings in the Ovcara case are again under way at Belgrade’s war crimes court. [Getty Images]

Last year, Belgrade’s war crimes trial chamber handed down sentences to 14 people accused of slaughtering prisoners following the Yugoslav Army’s capture of Vukovar in 1991. Two others were acquitted for lack of evidence.

However, the December verdict was annulled by the Supreme Court, which ordered a retrial. The new proceedings are under way, with most of the defendants again pleading not guilty.

Miroljub Vujovic, the former Yugoslav Army commander for the territorial defence of Vukovar, told the Belgrade War Crimes Court that he did not commit the acts prosecutors allege.

He said he was in hospital at the time the Croatian prisoners were executed, and only became territorial defence commander after Yugoslav forces, aided by Serbian paramilitary groups, took control of Vukovar.

It was the same claim Vujovic made during the first trial, which ended with a guilty verdict against him and a 20-year prison sentence.

Codefendant Stanko Vujanovic also repeated his earlier claims, seeking to cast doubt on the authenticity of the victims’ list. He said he had knowledge that two people on the list — Tomislav Prpic and Zoran Kovacevic — did not die at Ovcara, but were killed earlier.

The commander of a Serbian Radical Party volunteer unit, Milan Lancuzanin, also told the court that he was not guilty of shooting the Vukovar prisoners. So did two members of the Vukovar territorial defence, Predrag Milohevic and Djordje Sosic.

One defendant, Ivan Atanasijevic, acknowledged having committed a criminal act, but denied responsibility for it. He said he was forced by his superiors to kill one prisoner.

Vujo Zlatar, Milan Vojinovic, Jovica Peric, Predrag Madzarac and Goran Mugosa all denied involvement in the shootings.

Five defendants declined to make a statement regarding the accusations. They were Predrag Dragovic and Miroslav Djankovic — who received the maximum sentences during the earlier trial — as well as Nada Kalaba, originally sentenced to nine years, and Marko Ljuboja and Slobodan Katic, who were acquitted.

http://setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/03/29/feature-02 

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29.3.2007 by admin.

Millenia-old boats discovered in BiH

29/03/2007

The remains of two Illyrian pirate ships were found some 8m under water in marshlands near Mostar, according to archeologists.

By Denis Dzidic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo – 29/03/07

Bosnian diver Esad Humo takes an underwater video of what are believed to be the remains of two Illyrian ships that sank in the Hutovo Blato marshlands near Mostar some 2,200 years ago. [Getty Images]

The ancient Illyrians, who flourished in the Western Balkans thousands of years ago, were said to be skilled shipbuilders, sailors and — most likely — pirates, but no material evidence of this has been located. Until now, that is.

In one of the most sensational archeological discoveries in the Balkans in recent years, a Sarajevo University professor and her team say they have found the sunken remains of two Illyrian boats.

“They are the first Illyrian boats from this era ever to be discovered,” says Dr Snjezana Vasilj.

They were located some 8m under water in the Hutovo Blato marshlands near the southern Bosnian town of Mostar, and are believed to have been engaged in piracy, trade or perhaps both. Design features suggest their Illyrian origin, Vasilj said.

“It is a known fact that Illyrians were pirates,” she said. “They stole from Roman and Greek ships, and this is the type of boat they used. We can assume that the Illyrians were followed and they hid here. They were probably discovered and sunk.”

In addition to the boats, Vasilj’s team found more than 70 artifacts, as well as a Roman spear. Seven tombs from an Illyrian tribe known as the Daors were also discovered in the vicinity, as well as what may be an Illyrian hut.

“The artifacts that we found were probably the result of looting,” according to the professor. Although excavations are currently limited to the boat site, she says the team plans to study a larger area in the future.

After the discovery was announced, police officers from the local precinct were called to protect the site, which likely was looted during the past few years. The area “should be put under state protection right away”, said Esad Humo, a member of the archeological team.

A proposal to that effect is in the works, according to the president of the Bosnia and Herzegovina Commission to Preserve National Monuments, Dubravko Lovrenovic.

The find at Hutovo Blato is a “remarkable and extremely rare discovery”, says Predrag Novakovic, general secretary of the European Association of Archeologists.

“Historical records tell us that in the first millennium BC boating and shipping was already developed in the east Adriatic Sea, but boats from that period are an extremely rare thing, and each represents a gem,” he told the FENA news agency.

The Illyrians were nomadic tribes that occupied parts of the Balkans from at least the Iron Age into the early Common Era. Following the Roman conquest, they were dispersed or assimilated, and by the time Slavic tribes arrived in the area, in the 5th and 6th centuries, they had all but vanished.

Many scholars believe that today’s Albanians are their descendants, and that the Albanian language — which forms its own, unique branch of the Indo-European language family — is derived from ancient Illyrian. But others dispute this theory, claiming links instead between Albanians and the ancient Thracians or Dacians.

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29.3.2007 by admin.

Thursday, March 29, 2007

PM Declares Fight Against Informality a Priority of His Government

“Zero tolerance will be adopted against economic crime, tax evasion, and forgery,” Berisha saidTIRANA – The Albanian government will combat informality in all the sectors besides creating optimum conditions for the businesses, Prime Minister Sali Berisha told a meeting of his government Wednesday.Berisha said informality had affected sectors of construction, transport, telecommunications, social insurance, etc
http://www.albaniannews.com/
Salih Berisha

Albania’s prime minister, Sali Berisha, vowed zero tolerance for economic crime, fiscal evasion and fraud.
Albania’s Berisha says fighting grey economy is government priority

29/03/2007

TIRANA, Albania – During a cabinet session Wednesday (March 28th), Prime Minister Sali Berisha said the fight against the grey economy is a top government priority. He said the authorities would pursue a zero tolerance policy against economic crime. Combating it is an essential pre-condition for developing a free market and attracting more foreign investment, Berisha said. Also Wednesday, the Institute for Research and Alternative Development released the results of a survey on corruption. It found that corruption levels remained high last year. The public perceived state institutions, doctors, custom officials and judges as most corrupt, while the president and religious leaders were seen as least corrupt.

In other news, the Albanian NGO Free Think Forum put forward a proposal aimed at preventing blood feuds. The draft, prepared with the help of top lawyers, calls for the establishment of a special permanent government panel and a public information campaign. (KohaJone, Albanian News - 29/03/07; Top-Channel, VizionPlus, 24-ore - 28/03/07)

Geschrieben in Balkan (Englisch), Balkan | Drucken | Keine Kommentare »