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Italian premier Silvio Berlusconi, right, receives Bulgarian Prime Minister Simeon Saxcoburggotski as they attend the Economic Forum of the Central European Initiative Summit in Trieste, northern Italy, Thursday, Nov. 22, 2001. Leaders from 17 Central European countries are in Trieste to participate to a three-day economic forum. (AP Photo/Franco Debernardi)

The taxi drivers all over the country started protests against the excising of propane-butane. The drivers arrived in Sofia. They doom us to hunger and poverty, our children will breathe the petrol polluted air, the protesting people were crying. Before that 200 cars blocked the 'Thracia' highway near Pazardzhik. Drivers lifted the blockade only for ambulances and people, who were in a hurry for a plane flight. Today lines of cars will block the Hainboaz pass near the city of Tarnovo. Photo by Vassil Hadzhiivanov

Irina Gelevska, NATO

Mojance, Skopje-A patrol of the Macedonian Army (ARM) was attacked yesterday morning around 10:30 near the Skopje's village Mojance on Skopska Crna Gora mountain from a group of 6 armed men in black uniforms.

The border soldiers noticed the group after they started to shot at them and the fire was exchanged. There are no injured Macedonian soldiers, but there are two wounded terrorists. These wounded attackers were brought to Lipkovo where there is a illegal hospital of former NLA.

When members of NATO liaison teams asked the attackers what were they doing there with weapons, they answered that they were chopping woods.

On the question why the wounded persons didn't seek medical help in some of the hospitals in Skopje, they had no answer.

MIA

Aleksandra Zafirovska, investigation judge at the Tetovo elementary Court, did not say at Thursday press conference if human corpses were discovered during the investigation in the region between the villages of Trebos and Dzepciste. There have been alleges that a mass grave was located in this region, where Macedonian civilians killed by Albanian terrorists have been buried.

According to Zafirovska, before this information to be confirmed the Forensic Institute ought to submit the results from its investigation.

Judge Zafirovska said that the expertize had still not started.

The investigation is carried out by experts from the Forensic Institute, representatives of the Hague Tribunal, OSCE and NATO monitors and Tetovo Public Prosecutor Boris Milosavlevski.

The alleges about existence of mass grave in the region between Dzepciste and Trebos villages in the Tetovo area have been confirmed as true on Wednesday afternoon, MIA's correspondent from Tetovo reported.

The investigation provided evidences for buried bodies of massacred ethnic Macedonians, kidnapped earlier this year by the Albanian terrorists.

The war grave was covered with garbage from the nearby junkyard.

The exhumation is carried out by teams from the Institute of Forensics, accompanied by EU, OSCE and NATO monitors.

The procedure is led by investigation judge from the Tetovo Elementary Court, Aleksandra Zafirovska.

MIA

Macedonia will import 100,000 tones of wheat from Serbia, and in return will deliver fertilisers and pesticides to Serbia, Macedonian Minister of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Supply Marjan Gjorcev said after the Thursday's meeting with his Serbian counterpart Dragan Veselinov.

Veselinov suggested exchange of Macedonian goods for the Serbian grains.

Gjorcev stressed that the talks with Veselinov were only continuation of the discussions with Yugoslav Minister of Agriculture Sasa Vitosevic who recently visited Macedonia.

"The cooperation is possible in the fields of mechanisation, protections of plants and production of fertilisers," Gjorcev stressed.

According to him, they are focused on enhancing the trade exchange, on improving the border control and cooperation on eliminating the epidemic diseases.

Expressing satisfaction from the visit and the talks with Minister Gjorcev, Veselinov stressed that it was time for cooperation and renewing of the mutual trust."

"We are related politically and economically. It comes naturally Serbia and Macedonia to focus on further liberalisation of the trade and economic relations," Veselinov stressed. According to him the options for establishing joint customs union should be reviewed.

During his visit to Skopje, Veselinov visited "Alkaloid," "OHIS," and "MZT" factories, underlining that there was interest for more intensive cooperation between these factories and the Serbian companies. Gjorcev assessed this as excellent opportunity for conquering the Yugoslav market.

During the meeting they also discussed the project proposed by the Macedonian Government for constructing reservoir on the upper course of Pcinja River what would solve the problem with water supply in Kumanovo region.

Veselinov supported the proposal, adding that the Serbian Government would pay special attention to it.

He stressed the readiness for cooperation in the field of mechanisation i.e. joint investments in the Serbian factories that manufacture tractors.

MIA

Macedonian Finance Minister Nikola Gruevski announced Thursday that the donor's conference for Macedonia would be held in the middle of December.

After the meeting held between Macedonian President Boris Trajkovski and the representatives from the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, the European Union and the Dutch and U.S. Ambassadors to Macedonia, Gruevski informed that it is most likely the donor's conference to be held December 20.

According to Gruevski, the conditions set by the international community were met. These included the adoption of the constitutional amendments and the development of Law on local self-government, which will be on the agenda on the next governmental session.

He added that the international community started to approve the agreed issues with IMF, whose mission will arrive to Macedonia on Monday. "Staff monitoring" program that would start January 1, 2002 will be signed next week. Gruevski stressed that there were no open issues regarding this program.

According to him, around $90 million are expected from the donor's conference, but also 50 million will be obtained from the European Union as part of the signed agreement regardless whether the donor's conference will be held.

Besides U.S.A. and the European Union also Netherlands, Italy, Great Britain and Japan are mentioned as possible donors at the conference.

AP

By KATARINA KRATOVAC, Associated Press Writer

SKOPJE, Macedonia (AP) - Three ministers resigned Thursday, jolting a broad-based coalition government that was created to back Macedonia's fragile peace process.

The resignations followed a decision Tuesday by a key Macedonian party - the Social Democrats - to leave the government, saying the threat of ethnic war no longer exists.

The party's three top officials - the foreign minister, the defense minister and Macedonia's deputy prime minister - all left Thursday to protest what they called Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski's hard-line policies toward ethnic Albanians.

Created in May under a Western-engineered peace plan, the coalition government brought together top Macedonian and ethnic Albanian parties to seek a political solution to the ethnic Albanian insurgency that had threatened to explode into civil war.

The Social Democrats said they would now ``focus on issues in parliament'' ahead of January general elections.

They charged Georgievski with incompetence and ``catastrophic economic policies,'' indicating that the Social Democrats are gearing up for a tough elections bid.

Parliament was to convene Friday to formally accept the Social Democrats' resignations, along with those of one minister and two deputy ministers from a minor party, the Liberal Alliance. The three walked out Wednesday.

Ethnic Albanian insurgents began fighting Macedonian government forces in February to win more rights for the minority. Western envoys brokered a cease-fire in August. Last week, parliament passed constitutional amendments meant to give the ethnic Albanians greater rights.

Elsewhere, Macedonian forensic experts - watched by officials from the Netherlands-based U.N. war crimes tribunal and European Union representatives - continued digging Thursday at a suspected burial site believed to contain bodies of missing Macedonians. No details were available.

Earlier, government officials said no human remains were uncovered. However, police officers at the scene said body parts were found at the site between the northwestern villages of Trebos and Dzepciste.

The government contends that 13 Macedonian civilians missing since April were kidnapped and shot by ethnic Albanian rebels, then buried in mass graves in the wider Tetovo region.

The Guardian

Nicholas Wood in Skopje
Thursday November 22, 2001
The Guardian

Macedonia's national unity government fell apart yesterday when a key coalition partner, the moderate Social Democratic Union (SDSM), withdrew its support, leaving politicians who are more hard line in charge of key ministries.
The SDSM has stood by a western-backed peace agreement designed to end seven months of conflict between ethnic Albanian guerrillas and security forces.

Leaving the government was seen by many as a party strategy to win votes in elections early next year from people who are critical of the government's handling of the peace process.

The party did not want to be used to excuse "a catastrophic economic policy, crime, corruption, political party feudalism. These things even escalated during the conflict," Branko Crvenkovski, the president of the SDSM, said in a swipe at his coalition partners.

"We can't be baby-sitters and clean up a dirty job," he added.

The party's resignation overshadowed the excavation of an alleged mass grave near the north-western city of Tetovo.

There was some confusion as to whether human remains had been found, but police sources claimed forensic teams uncovered remains buried two metres deep, and hidden under car parts.

The operation took place near the villages of Trebos and Dzepciste, and was observed by a team from the Hague international war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia.

The Macedonian interior ministry alleged that up to 12 civilians who went missing at the height of last summer's conflict between the ethnic Albanian National Liberation Army (NLA) and the security forces were buried at the site.

A police official who asked not be named said the grave was believed to contain the bodies of up to six people.

The initial operation a week last Sunday to seize the alleged mass grave formerly held by the NLA saw three policemen killed in renewed clashes with Albanian gunmen. A stand-off between the two sides has continued ever since.

The operation showed just how fragile the peace remains in Macedonia. Government officials argue that the latest fighting shows the NLA has not disarmed. The gunmen say the police operation which saw the arrest of seven ethnic Albanian men was intended to provoke them in spite of an amnesty announced by the government.

"The police were sent by the government and [Ljube] Boskovski [the Macedonian interior minister] to destablise the situation, and surround this region," claimed the man commanding gunmen in Trebos.

In neighouring Dzepciste, another commander welcomed the presence of officials from the Hague tribunal at the excavation. "It should have happened like this at the first time but instead three policemen were killed," he said.

On the political front, the SDSM had long said it would return to opposition once the country's peace deal, granting greater rights to ethnic Albanians, was passed by parliament. This happened last week.

Key government positions, such as the defence and foreign ministries, are now in the hands of the more hawkish VMRO-DPMNE, the largest party. This worries politicians and diplomats backing the peace process.

"It's difficult to say what they will do because there is some danger that they have both important ministries, but I hope they will not try to provoke another war," said Petar Gosev a member of the Liberal Democratic party and an opposition MP.

News.bg

Premier Simeon Koburg-Gotha was the first head of state to meet the Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi during the regular annual meeting of the Central European Initiative today, the Cabinets Information and Public Relations Department reported. In their conversation, the two Premiers discussed bilateral relations and possibilities for activating and expanding cooperation between the two countries in different fields, as well as development of economics relations and increasing Italian investments in Bulgaria. The Italian part expressed support for the efforts of Bulgaria for a membership in the European Union and in the NATO. The two Premiers also discussed the forthcoming visit of Berlusconi in Bulgaria.

Standartnews

There is a possibility that the excise duty on propane-butane will be reduced, said Finance Minister Milen Veltchev.

A hundred of taxis blocked the streets of Sofia yesterday. The drivers protested against the introduction of excise duty on propane-butane next year. At 11 a.m. sharp from four outskirts districts of Sofia columns of cars, each numbering about 30 vehicles, headed for the city center. They were escorted by police cars. By noon the taxi drivers gathered in the Battenberg Square and remained there till 5 p.m. "We're doomed to poverty and hunger", complained the drivers. "The fact that we took to the streets means that we have no other alternative whatsoever", they said. The taxi-drivers from Plovdiv and Blagoevgrad came to support their colleagues. People in their private cars joined in to support the peaceful protest. "If we raise prices to cover our expenses after the excise is levied, we'll lose our customers. If we don't, then we won't be able to make both ends meet. And we have families to provide for", said the drivers indignantly. At the same time the initiators of the protest - Association of Petrol and Gas Societies, Union of Carriers and "Promiana" trade union - negotiated with the Finance Minister Milen Veltchev. He gave hope that the excise duty may be reduced. The parties agreed to set up an expert commission including representatives of the ministry, budget and economic commissions to the parliament and trade unionists, it transpired yesterday. Today, the negotiations with the Finance Minister's team will be resumed.

Victoria Serafimova
(MG)

Standartnews

Bulgarian army won't consist of more than 45,000 people. This number is fixed in the Military doctrine. The real number of the soldiers and officers in the army will be quite lower - about 40, 000. This became clear from the updated Plan 2004, adopted by the General Staff. According to it the cadremen in the army will be 42,100. About 2,000 of them will be in the military schools and will have mostly training tasks. A 2,900 military men quota has been provided to the Bulgarian army that will be subordinated to the Ministry of Defence. The Military Intelligence, the Military Counter Intelligence Service, Military Police, Military Medical Academy and four executive agencies with the Defence Ministry are included in it. According to experts they haven't direct relation to the operational-combat plans. Commanders are bewildered how could there be so many cadremen in structures, who have only servicing functions.

Evgeni Genov
(PY)

Standartnews

Plovdiv's Mayor Dr Ivan Tchomakov is one of the founders of the international network "Balkan Towns", employees from the municipality said. The association is to be established in Thessaloniki at the Second Friendly Meeting of the Mayors from the Peninsula, to take place on December 3 and 4. On Bulgarian part, Sofia and Varna are also to participate in it. The "Balkan Towns" network will guarantee the stability in the Balkans and will mediate between the municipalities and the international institutions concerning development projects.

Venelina Yanakieva
(ML)

Standartnews

People of Gen. Atanassov threatened to expel the foreign investor if he doesn't agree to become their informer.

Officers from the "Security" Department to the Regional Directorate of the Interior Ministry in Dobritch have been exerting intense pressure on me trying to force me into becoming their ex-staff employer, said Ilia Nemski. He is the Italian investor of Bulgarian descent, well-known in town. I have pledged a complaint with the Director of the RDIM in Dobritch about the rude manipulation and police pressure I had to endure during the first six months of 2001. Copies of the complaint were sent to the new minister of interior and the Italian ambassador in Sofia, Nemski added. The subordinates of Gen. Atanassov in Dobritch made numerous attempts to recruit the foreign citizen and make him their informer. They resorted to covert threatening and even racket. "Despite my resistance, officer Atanassov kept insisting on meeting me. He warned me that I may have problems with my permit to stay in Bulgaria", Nemski said further. In return for the agreement to cooperate the counterintelligence officer promised to help the businessman if he meets with difficulties ensuing from the new Aliens Act, which according to him is expected to be restrictive.

Standartnews

Grivin, a diplomat from the Russian embassy in Sofia, officially warned the National Security Service (NSS) in February 1996 that the murder of Andrey Loukanov was plotted, Nikolay Nikolov from the NSS said before the court yesterday. He reported to the Ministry of Interior and together with the NSS, National Guard Service and Sofia Directorate of Interior they had mapped out a safety plan for ex-Premier Loukanov. Members of the Lukanovs family in Bulgaria, Austria and former Soviet Union also alarmed about the assassination plot. Besides, the Varna Regional Directorate of Interior sent to the NSS the file titled ' Kidnappers' citing the recording of conversation between people trying to talk a third person into killing Loukanov for money.

Bogdana Lazarova
(SH)

Standartnews

He takes part in the new film 'Solaris' by director Stiven Soderbergh.

Hollywood decided to turn the classic film "Solaris" into a spectacle. Three of the biggest masters in the American cinema George Clooney, Stiven Soderbergh and James Cameran took up with the task. According to 'Variety' magazine they are to film a Russian novel, which has already been filmed in 1972. The edition describes its genre as a science fiction thriller. As a matter of fact the book is by the Polish Stanislaw Lem and is one of the obligatory novels not only for the admirers of fiction. The deceased Andrey Tarkovski, one of the phenomenal directors in the XX century cinema, made real classic out of the novel. Donatas Banionis played the main part. Now George Cloony will play it. Before 'World Entertainment' the Hollywood star showed some geographic competence. The actor said that the filming will surely be in Russia or in the Balkans, not specifying the country. Producer of the film is James Cameron, famous as director of the 'Terminator'-s and 'Titanic' megaproduction.

Georgy P. Dimitrov
(PY)

Standartnews

Sofia mayor will set up a party called 'Free Democrats' assisted by two of his ex-ministers, 1 lev is the monthly membership fee.

Sofia mayor Stephan Sofiyanski will found a new political party on December 9. Former ministers of the mayor's caretaker cabinet - Daniela Bobeva and Prof. Emil Takov, bankers and eminent physicians will join the new formation. Sofianski said that the fresh political formation is 'center - center-right' oriented. The party will be based on the principle of regional structures rather than clubs, polling stations will be used as a basis, revealed his strategy Sofianski. 'This is necessary, since our main objective is winning the local and then parliamentary and presidential elections,' he elaborated. 'We will accept anyone who shares our ideas of democracy, Bulgaria's accession to NATO and EU', Sofiyanski added. No recommendations will be required from the candidate members. Yet, the members will pay 1 lev membership fee monthly. The founders have already distributed the tasks. Daniela Bobeva works out the program, while Spas Dimitrov, former head the DSK (State Savings Bank), is drawing up the Statutes. The partial local elections in Rousse, Blagoevgrad and Sliven are our first task, Sofiyanski added.

Silvia Nikolova
(SH)

INTERVIEW Standartnews: Stefan Sofianski

We are not going to use the structures of the UDF and NMS. I will continue to be on good terms with NEC, and our attitude to president Parvanov will depend on his policy, says Stefan Sofianski.

- Mr.Sofianski, what has united you and your followers in your desire to set up a party?

- We, a group of people who share the same views, decided that after the election we can look for our own niche in the political life and seek our own solutions.

- What position will you take after your party is established?

- I will be the candidate for a political leader of the party. There is no doubt about it. On the administrative and party level this will be settled at the congress scheduled for December 9.

- To what sector in the political space will the Free Democrats be oriented?

- It will be the center or right of the center. We stand for free market economy and Christian values. I'm the chairman of the Bulgarian delegation for the Congress of local authorities in Strasbourg. I'm also a vice-chairman of the right faction of the European parliament in Strasbourg. For this reason I cannot even think of taking any other place or seeking partners other than the people I'm working with.

- What part of the electorate will you try to win for your cause - that of the UDF or the NMS?

- We call ourselves "Free Democrats" because we would like to attract the uncommitted people who expressed their free will refusing to vote. Half of the eligible voters in Bulgaria abstained. To make these people socially committed is a serious challenge to me. We set up a new political formation because we think that the betrayed hopes and unfulfilled pledges made the major part of the people to give up social life. We would like to give a hand to the people who don't take part in it now. The prosperity of Bulgaria, our membership in EU and NATO require the efforts of many more people.

Silvia Nikolova
(MG)

INTERVIEW Standartnews: Simeon Saxecoburggothski

The 'Kostov' theme is not important, said Premier Simeon Saxe-Coburg-Gotha on his departure for the CEI meeting in Italy.

- Mr premier, how would you comment on the publications that Filchev is getting ready to insist on withdrawal of Kostov's immunity?

- I'm going to Triest to do a number of interesting things and it's worthwhile talking about it. It is a meeting with many a prime minister and we can talk about Bulgaria.

- How far have the ministers reached with the White Book on Ivan Kostov's rule?

- These are statistical matters, I can't say anything.

- What will you talk with Berlusconi about?

- I'll be able to tell you more after I have met him. I will also meet with friends of mine from the business circles.

- And when will you comment on the 'Ivan Kostov' topic?

- Why should I comment on it? There are much more interesting things that could be subject of conversation.

- If the NMS transforms into a party, would you be the leader of that formation?

- We shall first consider and discuss things. But it won't be a party. It will be only registered under the Law of the parties. I think that the NMS should remain a movement.

- And what about the nature of the formation?

- It will for sure be aimed at Bulgaria's wellbeing.

Elena Yaneva
(SB)

Antiwar

By Nebojsa Malic, November 22, 2001

And the Next Balkan War.

Last Saturday's electoral farce in occupied Kosovo turned up entirely predictable results. Albanian separatists got their victory, though no single faction triumphed outright. The UN and NATO got exactly what they wanted: an official acceptance of their occupation by both the Kosovo Serbs and official Belgrade. Even the Serb politicians had the chance to present this as a great victory for their policy of groveling appeasement.

The post-election euphoria was rife with careless statements, many of which offered insight into the real purposes behind the fiction of "meaningful self-government" that Kosovo's occupying authorities have tried to establish.

UNITY OF PURPOSE

Immediately after his party won the plurality of votes on Saturday, Albanian leader Ibrahim Rugova demanded immediate recognition of Kosovo's independence. A veteran politician, Rugova was well aware that his demand, and not his largely symbolic electoral triumph, would make the headlines. He even resurrected the fabled scarf he had worn around his neck as a symbol of Kosovo Albanians' "bondage" under "Serb rule."

This desire for independence is not new. Albanians have claimed Kosovo as their own ever since 1878, and used every opportunity and all means to strengthen that claim. If there is one issue on which all Kosovo Albanians agree right now, that is the desire for an independent, Albanian Kosovo or Kosova, as they call it. What makes a difference now is that Rugova's demand is lent credibility by the virtue of his election. While the EU dismisses Rugova's demands, it is only "for the time being."

THE POWER OF PR

This is not the only evidence that Rugova knows the power of words. He recently penned a commentary for the Daily Telegraph, fully endorsing the Empire's Afghan War. While mostly parroting the official line of the Bush Administration, Rugova does so as someone whom the US and NATO "saved" from the Serbs, whom he conveniently portrays as the moral equivalent of Al-Qaeda. In a bizarre convergence of circular logic, this lends credibility to both Rugova and the US, the Kosovo War and the Afghan war.

Rugova's rising influence is also in part due to the fact that the powerful Western media machine routinely refers to him as a "moderate," "pacifist," and even "Gandhi of the Balkans." These words carry powerful images and associations, but in and of themselves are meaningless or misleading.

Anywhere in the Balkans, "moderate" is routinely used to describe whoever complies unconditionally with the Empire's diktat. For example, Oliver Ivanovic of Kosovska Mitrovica, formerly routinely derided as a "hard-liner" and even "thug" by the US and NATO, became a "moderate" the moment he accepted the occupation and took part in the elections.

As for his relative merit over the KLA, it is worth noting that it was Rugova's parallel government that made the KLA possible, his propaganda that made it popular, and his pacifist posturing that lent them credibility. Rugova and the KLA have used different means, but their goal has been the same. Comparing him to Gandhi would imply that Gandhi worked hand-in-hand with an army of drug-dealing terrorist thugs.

All in all, Rugova's eventual triumph in securing independence is by no means a foregone conclusion, but his newly elevated stature makes such a scenario all the more likely. So does another important effect of Saturday's vote.

MANIPULATING DESPAIR

Even before the election, Kosovo's UN satrap stressed the importance of Serbs voting. The "important issue was Serb participation, rather than the number of voters," he told Reuters, adding that "sufficiently big numbers of Kosovo Serbs will participate." By voting, Serbs would bestow legitimacy on both the occupying authorities and the Albanian-dominated "provisional government." Just in case of a substantial boycott, though, the satrap reserves the right to declare any number of Serbs who voted "sufficiently big" for the purpose of that legitimacy.

Cementing that conclusion were pronouncements made after the election:

"[T]he lack of Serb deputies in the new parliament would undermine the legitimacy of the new institutions in the eyes of the international community."
(The Observer)

"International officials made much of the fact that Kosovo Serbs took part."
(Reuters)

"Serbs' participation in the elections lends greater credibility to the entire democratic process."
(BBC)

"[T]he 46 percent Serbian turnout on Saturday was a real shift, and one that in many ways validated the election process."
(The New York Times)

As one report noted, with shocking honesty, "by participating," some Serbs "believe they are more or less endorsing the ethnic Albanians' dearest wish to have some form of self-rule or independence in Kosovo." It also says that Belgrade urged the Serbs to vote only "under extreme pressure from the West." Reuters, on the other hand, claims that Belgrade and the West told the despondent Kosovo Serbs that, "they can only improve their lives by helping to shape the future of the province."

Expelled at gunpoint, torched out of their homes, terrorized into ghettos, stoned and bombed out of even visiting their charred ruins, the Serbs of Kosovo have had their despair cynically manipulated: both by the Imperial occupiers, to manufacture consent for their occupation of Kosovo (chiefly responsible for the Serbs' misery), and by Belgrade, to score cheap points in the battle for political power inside what remains of Serbia.

BETRAYED BY BELGRADE

In all honesty, being betrayed by the people whose aggression and occupation are chiefly responsible for one's wretchedness is not that devastating. Given these people's previous track record, such a thing should even be expected. But to be manipulated and betrayed by their own community leaders, as well as the supposedly "democratic" government in Belgrade, now that ought to hurt.

One of the favorite chants by the angry youths at the forefront of Serbia's "democratic revolution" in 2000 cursed Slobodan Milosevic in rather explicit terms for "selling out Kosovo." Such chants are heard no longer, even though the current regime shows much more eagerness in betraying or otherwise selling out the Serbs of Kosovo, the province itself, and why mince words what remains of Serbia as well.

Editorials of the main Belgrade newspapers read as if they were written by the National Endowment for Democracy, extolling the virtues of wise politicians who somehow accomplished greatness by doing exactly as they are told by the US, UN and NATO. Apparently, it has been readily forgotten that the US and NATO savagely bombed Serbia in 1999, then occupied a portion of its territory with UN blessing. It has also been forgotten that Slobodan Milosevic's policy over the past decade has consisted entirely out of appeasing every demand of the Empire (with the exception of the outrageous ultimatum in Rambouillet), differing from the current regime's basic policy only in the sense that Milosevic had the temerity to hold the Empire to its word, or even (gasp!) demand something in return for his obedience.

THE PRICE OF SUBMISSION

Everyone knows that bribes have a way of getting bigger because the bribed party becomes more powerful each time, and can thus demand more. Same goes with obeying orders. If nations in the Balkans are really as rife with corruption as the Empire alleges, how come none of its leaders or its people seem to have realized this self-evident truth?

Six years ago, the United States forced Croatia's President Tudjman, Serbian President Milosevic and the self-proclaimed Bosnian President Izetbegovic to sign the Dayton Peace Agreement at a US Air Force base in Ohio. At the time, they agreed to accept an international "high representative" with loosely defined powers to enforce the agreement. Today, the High Representative is the viceroy of Bosnia in all but name, the country's Constitution is routinely abused in the name of bigger government, businesses are routinely destroyed under the pretext of "funding nationalism," and "democracy" has come to mean arbitrary rule by brute force, with extreme consequences for political incorrectness. It is perfectly normal for the current viceroy, Wolgang Petritsch, to demand the passage of certain legislation giving more power to the unconstitutional central government, "or else."

Even more evident is the example of Macedonia, which was forced to amend its Constitution and bestow special privileges on its Albanian population, literally at gunpoint and under immense pressure from the Empire. In order to pay for the "reforms" thus imposed, Macedonia will have to beg money from the West, dragging itself even deeper into servitude.

As early as nine months ago, when its government was on the brink of declaring war on Albanian bandits, the EU, NATO and the US all verbally supported Macedonia's cause. A few months and many seemingly innocuous concessions later, the Empire had Skopje over a barrel, forcing it to sign its freedom away in Ohrid. Macedonian officials are now routinely blasted in the media as "hard-liners" and "nationalists," while Albanian violence is excused, justified or simply dismissed out of hand.

DIRE CONSEQUENCES

What started as a few awkward clashes over Slovenian border posts in 1991 has by now evolved into full-fledged colonial occupation of the entire peninsula, through gradual escalation of both warfare and diplomacy. Two sides of the same coin, as Clausewitz noted, they have created a plethora of precedents that would have been shockingly unacceptable a decade ago. No one could have guessed that by 2001 Yugoslavia would be gone, replaced by a pack of nonviable nonentities; that two of those nonentities would be satrapies of the Empire, and others its sworn vassals; that most people would actually live much worse than in the worst days of Communism; or that the peoples who once offered determined resistance to an overpowering foreign occupier would now consent to grant legitimacy to foreign occupiers by taking part in a staged election.

The worst part is not that the Empire came into its own by manipulating conflicts in the Balkans, nor that the local warlords had very little idea of what forces they have unleashed; it is the sinking feeling that the people of the Balkans have accepted this abysmal reality, imposed on them by force, as The Way Things Are or even worse, The Way Things Ought To Be.

It is against this death of hope, dreams and ideas, this reign of chaos, despair and tyranny, that the next Balkan War will be fought. It is hard to tell exactly how, where, by whom, or even when. But it is only a matter of time.

Vecer

KosovoTwo parties or movements, call it as you want, from the president George Bush's black list, managed to get their own seats in future Kosovo parliament.

This is unofficial information according to the first results from the Kosovo elections. Beside the fact that they are on the American president George Bush's black list of extremist, National Movement for Liberation of Kosovo and Peoples Movement of Kosovo had their candidate lists on the Kosovo elections.

It is obvious that somebody is not respecting the measures of the President Bush for isolation of extremist from the black list. Kosovo parliament will have one deputy each from both movements with the candidate list numbers 11 and 15.

Unofficially, another deputy will be from National front (Bali Kombtar), a.k.a. the successors of the Balist (Nazi Allies in the Second World War) movement that was under protection of Albanian king Zogu.