From: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com (abolition-usa-digest) To: abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Subject: abolition-usa-digest V1 #107 Reply-To: abolition-usa-digest Sender: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Errors-To: owner-abolition-usa-digest@lists.xmission.com Precedence: bulk abolition-usa-digest Thursday, April 8 1999 Volume 01 : Number 107 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 1999 18:43:46 -0700 (PDT) From: Timothy Bruening Subject: Re: (abolition-usa) New brochure Please send me your brochures at 1439 Brown Drive, Davis, CA 95616. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 11:31:02 EDT From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) From Women's Centre Belgrade!! In a message dated 4/7/99 7:08:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time, vlerner@interpac.net writes: Subj: Fw: [GSN] (Fwd) From Women's Centre Belgrade!! Date: 4/7/99 7:08:53 AM Eastern Daylight Time From: vlerner@interpac.net (viviane lerner) To: editor@feminista.com (feminista), rkmoore@IOL.IE (Richard K Moore), sysop@zmag.org (Michael Albert), DavidMcR@aol.com (David Mc R), info@herspace.com, femfaxnet@aol.com, sigi@igc.apc.org, info@sojourner.org, daw@undp.org, unifem@undp.org, hrwnyc@hrw.org, ichrdd@ichrdd.ca, iwtc@igc.apc.org -----Original Message----- From: Janet M. Eaton To: GSN@onelist.com Date: Wednesday, April 07, 1999 3:37 AM Subject: [GSN] (Fwd) From Women's Centre Belgrade!! From: "Janet M. Eaton" ------- Forwarded Message Follows ------- Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 10:58:04 +0100 (BST) Reply-to: ukantiwar@gn.apc.org From: "Euler, Catherine [CES]" > - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 12:40:08 -0400 From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Strategy Meeting on Defense Spending >Date: Tue, 06 Apr 1999 17:05:26 -0400 >Subject: Strategy Meeting on Defense Spending >Priority: non-urgent >X-FC-MachineGenerated: true >To: budgetgroups@lyris.ombwatch.org >X-FC-Forwarded-From: pwlester@chn.org >From: budgetgroups@lyris.ombwatch.org (budgetgroups@lyris.ombwatch.org) > >==================================== >STRATEGY MEETING ON DEFENSE SPENDING >==================================== > >Dan McGlinchey of Rep. Barney Frank's office asked me to pass >this meeting notice on to interested parties. > >- Patrick Lester, Coalition on Human Needs > > >-----Original Message----- >From: McGlinchey, Daniel >To: 'pwlester@chn.org' >Date: Tuesday, April 06, 1999 4:47 PM >Subject: invitation to strategy session on defense spending > > >JOIN US FOR A STRATEGY SESSION TO KEEP THE DEFENSE BUDGET FROM >DECIMATING >NON-MILITARY PROGRAMS > >The meeting will include a new release from the National >Priorities Project, "Choice that Matter: Federal Decisions and >Your Hometown," a report examining the negative impact of an >increased military budget on social programs in states and >communities across the nation. > > >TUESDAY, APRIL 13, 1999 >2237 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING >3:00 p.m. - 5:00 p.m. > > >3:00 - 3:15 Cong. Barney Frank > >3:15 - 3:30 Senator Tom Harkin > >3:30 - 3:45 Greg Speeter, National Priorities Project > >3:45 - 5:00 Discussion > > >Please call Daniel McGlinchey in Cong. Frank's office >(202-225-5931) with >any questions. > >----------------------------------------------------------------- >Patrick W. Lester >Senior Program Associate >Coalition on Human Needs >1700 K Street, NW >Suite 1150 >Washington, DC 20006 > >Phone: 202-736-5886 >Fax: 202-785-0791 >Email: pwlester@chn.org > > > >--- >You are currently subscribed to budgetgroups as: [aslater@gracelinks.org] >To unsubscribe, forward this message to >leave-budgetgroups-5336Y@lyris.ombwatch.org > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 12:51:46 -0400 From: ASlater Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: NucNews-Yugoslavia >7. Well-Armed and Very Dangerous > >Belgrade: The obstacles to Yugoslavia's acquisition >and use of unconventional weapons are not that great. > >April 4, 1999 Los Angeles Times, By WILLIAM C. POTTER, JONATHAN B. TUCKER >http://www.latimes.com/excite/990404/t000029798.html > >As NATO mounts its air campaign against Yugoslavia, much has been made of >the mismatch of the combatants' conventional weapons capabilities. Although >that imbalance is unlikely to change, too little attention has been given >to Belgrade's weapons of mass destruction potential. In the near term, this >danger principally involves chemical weapons. A longer-term, but not >distant, threat relates to nuclear arms. > >Before the breakup of socialist Yugoslavia in 1991, its army had an >advanced chemical weapons program dating back to the 1960s. According to >the late Croatian Gen. Zlatko Binenfeld, Yugoslavia produced the deadly >nerve agent sarin, mustard gas, the choking agent phosgene, the >hallucinogenic incapacitant BZ and tear gases. These toxic chemicals were >put into a variety of munitions, including artillery shells, aerial bombs, >rockets and chemical mines. > >Much of the former Yugoslavia's offensive chemical weapons infrastructure, >production capacity and expertise was inherited in 1991 by the Federal >Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro). Three of the four known >chemical weapons production facilities in the former Yugoslavia were on >Serbian territory, and equipment from the fourth such plant, near Mostar, >Bosnia, was reportedly dismantled by Yugoslav troops and moved to Serbia in >1992. > >Yugoslavia maintains a significant chemical defense posture. An offensive >capability also may have been demonstrated during the Bosnian war, which >saw repeated allegations of the use by the Bosnian Serbs of >Yugoslav-supplied tear gas and BZ. Moreover, Belgrade has refused to sign >the 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention banning development, possession and >use of chemical arms. > >In contrast to the immediate chemical threat posed by Yugoslavia, the >principal nuclear danger is prospective. It derives from more than 50 years >of Yugoslav nuclear science research, a large and well-trained cadre of >nuclear scientists and engineers, a stock of weapons-usable material and a >history of at least two prior efforts during the Tito regime to acquire >nuclear arms. > >The latest of these attempts to "go nuclear" was launched immediately after >the first Indian nuclear detonation in 1974 and appears to have been >abandoned by the early 1980s. Much of the infrastructure to support a >nuclear weapons program remains intact, however, and is concentrated at the >Vinca Institute of Nuclear Science near Belgrade. These nuclear assets >include a 6.5-megawatt research reactor, 48 kilograms of weapons-usable >uranium (80% U-235) and extensive experience with uranium enrichment and >plutonium reprocessing. Although to date the Milosevic regime has done >nothing to suggest that it plans to resume a nuclear weapons program, the >proliferation incentives for Yugoslavia may grow as it assumes the position >of a pariah state--a profile closely resembling that of other nuclear >weapons aspirants such as South Africa in the past and Iraq and North Korea >today. > >The longer and more successful the NATO air campaign against Yugoslavia, >the greater the temptation for Belgrade to consider a nonconventional >weapons response. This action might involve the terrorist use of chemical >weapons or radioactive material against the Kosovo Albanians or NATO >peacekeepers in Bosnia and Macedonia. The Milosevic government might also >seek to acquire the funds needed to bolster its conventional arsenal by >trafficking in chemical weapons, nuclear material and associated production >equipment. To counter these potential threats, NATO and the >international community should undertake the following steps: > >First, NATO peacekeeping forces in the region must be prepared for possible >hostilities involving chemical weapons use. Second, increased scrutiny >should be given to Yugoslav chemical and nuclear trade with would-be >proliferators. Third, as part of any cease-fire settlement, Belgrade should >be required to sign and ratify the Chemical Weapons Convention and to >accept strengthened international safeguards at its nuclear facilities. >Finally, the U.S. and Russia must revive their traditional but increasingly >frayed cooperation in halting the spread of weapons of mass destruction. In >the case of Yugoslavia, this cooperation might take the form of a >U.S.-subsidized "buy-back" by Moscow of the Soviet-origin nuclear material >at Vinca. > >The technical and political obstacles to the development and employment of >weapons of mass destruction by Yugoslavia are not as great as often >assumed. Unless this danger is recognized and steps are taken to counteract >it, we may soon experience another shock to the nonproliferation regime. >- - - > >William C. Potter Is Director of the Center for Nonproliferation Studies at >the Monterey Institute of International Studies. Jonathan B. Tucker Directs >the Center's Chemical and Biological Weapons Nonproliferation Project > Alice Slater Global Resource Action Center for the Environment (GRACE) 15 East 26th Street, Room 915 New York, NY 10010 tel: (212) 726-9161 fax: (212) 726-9160 email: aslater@gracelinks.org GRACE is a member of Abolition 2000, a global network working for a treaty to eliminate nuclear weapons. - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 07 Apr 1999 13:55:53 -0700 From: Jackie Cabasso Subject: (abolition-usa) Fwd: Gorbachev on Yugoslavia bombing >>CNN - Larry King Live - April 3, 1999 > >MIKHAIL GORBACHEV, GENERAL SECRETARY, SOVIET COMMUNIST PARTY >(through translator): I think this is a big mistake because the political >solution was possible and the possibilities for a political solutions were >not used. As someone who has been involved in the politics for many years, >as someone who was involved in similar negotiations, I was really amazed that >during these negotiations, at all times the threat of force was used. And it >was said by NATO that the talks will be more successful if this threat is -- >or the use of force is used during the negotiations. > >KING: Does the president... > >GORBACHEV (through translator): The political part of the agreement was >already agreed and negotiated and then suddenly, the so- called military >part appeared in the form of an ultimatum. > >KING: Does the president have any disagreement with Mr. Milosevic? > >GORBACHEV (through translator): What happened was the result of mistakes >made by all sides, and of course, first of all, Milosevic, who liquidated >the autonomy of Kosovo. > >KING: Does the president fear the possibility of ground troops? GORBACHEV >(through translator): I think NATO has made a mistake and now this mistake >must be corrected. The air strikes are mistake enough. Those air strikes >were done without authorization from the United Nations. This regarding the >view, the views of countries like Russia, China, India and this has placed >the world in a very, very difficult situation. > >So, I don't even want to think about the use of ground troops. I believe >that, instead, the air strikes should be stopped because the situation is >difficult enough now. > >And Larry, I am really amazed at the kind of self-confidence -- >over-confidence that is being shown by President Clinton and today's >statement also by Tony Blair. They are too sure that the air strikes would >achieve their goal. I believe that instead this will boomerang and they will >certainly rue this and >the view of the people, not just the Yugoslav people, but the people >throughout the world, is very negative. Even in Europe, people are divided. >And of course, other people are saying, "Well that's what Western values are." > >KING: Mr. President, can Russia do any more to help? > >GORBACHEV (through translator): I believe that Russia should stick to the >position that it is for a >political settlement. This is very important. We should not lose our heads. >No one should lose their >heads. > >I believe that the signal -- the message -- that was carried by Primakov has >now been confirmed in >the talks between Milosevic and Rugova, the political leader of the ethnic >Albanians. So that shows >that there is a potential for a political solution. So, let us take >advantage of this and let us find a >political solution. > >I believe that Russia alone without cooperation with the United States >cannot change the situation readily for the better, cannot change this very >dangerous situation alone. Because after all, we understand that if Russia >acts alone, then the United States will perhaps fear that the U.S. >credibility is being undermined. > >So, the situation today is that every one should try and save face, but let >us think above all about the sufferings of the people. Let us think about >that, the people are suffering. > >KING: If you were president now... > >GORBACHEV (through translator): And Larry, I am very much concerned about the >consequences of what is happening in Yugoslavia and what is happening with >respect to this crisis. The international law has been (OFF-MIKE). Force has >been used. The position of the U.N. Security Council has been undermined. >And now Europe has been shown who's the boss. And I know this because I hear >this from the Europeans. Russia is being humiliated. > >And this will push a new arms race in every country in the world. People >will be thinking we must have more weapons, because the time will come when >we may, might have to use them. And there is a real threat that in many >countries there will be an effort made to get absolute weapons. To get >weapons of mass destruction. I believe this will also give impetus to >terrorism. > >We'll be dealing with terrible consequences and our attempt to create a new >peaceful world order, will be made extremely difficult. And our attempts to >create a new peaceful world order will be made extremely difficult. > >So, we must stop. And a joint effort, particularly by the United States and >Russia. The U.N. Security Council should also be given a role. And we must >build a new security structure, a new security architecture in Europe. NATO >cannot be the guarantor. NATO may participate but all Europeans should take >decisions rather than NATO alone. > >This is all very serious, and I would like President Clinton, and I would >like the United States to take the initiative in doing this, preferably in >cooperation with Russia, and other countries. Otherwise this process that we >are seeing now cannot be held in check, cannot be controlled. > >KING: Mr. President, I thank you very much. A very strong advocate of his >country... > >GORBACHEV (through translator): Thank you, Larry. Pleased to talk to you. I >was very pleased to talk to you because I have confidence in you and I trust >you, and respect you. I feel that you are as concerned as I am about what's >happening, and I believe that what happened between our countries -- the >improvement that happened after the end of the Cold War is now being threatened >and I am very concerned about this. > >KING: Thank you Mr. President. > >----------------------------------------------------------------------- >Sam Husseini sam@accuracy.org >Institute for Public Accuracy Tel: 202-347-0020 >915 National Press Building Fax: 202-347-0290 >Washington, DC 20045 http://www.accuracy.org >E-mail subject line "subscribe" to ipa@accuracy.org to sign on to IPA's list. >If you are a journalist, please include your name and outlet in the message. > ****************************************************** Jacqueline Cabasso, Executive Director WESTERN STATES LEGAL FOUNDATION 1440 Broadway, Suite 500 Oakland, California USA 94612 Tel: +(510)839-5877 Fax: +(510)839-5397 E-mail: wslf@earthlink.net ****************************************************** Western States Legal Foundation is part of ABOLITION 2000 A GLOBAL NETWORK TO ELIMINATE NUCLEAR WEAPONS - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Wed, 7 Apr 1999 13:19:49 -0700 From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Softwar: Tangled Web in Yugoslavia Softwar is one reason governments would like to control the net. - J2 - -------------------------------------------------------------------------- http://www.worldnetdaily.com/bluesky_smith/19990406_xcsof_how_clinto.shtml Clinton's war in the former Yugoslavia started within days of his taking office in 1993. In 1993, Croat and Bosnian Serbs, backed by the Milosevic regime in Belgrade, were battling with Croat and Bosnia Muslims. The war was dominated by a UN arms embargo against the fractured Yugoslavia. No new weapons could get into the country to feed the widening civil war. The arm embargo was strictly enforced by NATO and the newly elected Clinton. Initially, the Serbs were winning. They out-gunned the larger Croat and Bosnian forces, because they were backed by tanks from their friend in Belgrad, Milosevic. Starting in 1993, the Croats and Bosnians suddenly acquired loads of Chinese made artillery and anti-tank rockets. The new arms arrived in Bosnia on Iranian C-130 cargo planes, in violation of the NATO embargo. The Iranian arms shipments were credited with stopping a major Serbian offensive, and costing Milosevic victory in the long war. Ironically, the same weapons also cost former the Clinton National Security advisor, Anthony Lake, his bid to be CIA Director. During Senate hearings, Lake was forced to admit that the U.S. knew of the Iranian arms flights and did nothing to stop them. Lake, who was then up for the newly vacated CIA Directorship, admitted the misdeeds and resigned in disgrace. The sudden admission of a U.S./Iranian plot to arm the Muslims strained relations and embarrassed the Clinton administration. European allies and Russia had enforced the embargo with aircraft and naval warships. Yet, Iran did more than just send guns. Ali Fallahan, the top spy for Iran, was also sent into Yugoslavia along with the Chinese made AK-47s, artillery and rocket launchers. Ali Fallahan was then head of the Iranian Ministry of Intelligence and Security, or Vavak. Fallahan also is known to preside over the Iranian overseas operations planning committee. It is this committee that approves all Iranian sponsored terrorist attacks abroad. In 1996, the accidental discovery of a Vavak base in Bosnia by NATO forces provided the hard evidence of Iranian actions and of Fallahan's activities. NATO troops found a treasure trove of advanced communications and bugging devices from around the world purchased by Fallahan. The equipment was quickly tracked back to each respective supplier and thus the Germans re-constructed Fallahan's travels. Once in Europe, Fallahan drove anywhere he wanted, and frequently did. It was during one stop in Germany that Fallahan helped set up the assassination of Kurd rebel leaders exiled in Berlin. Fallahan also masterminded a huge buy of German, Russian and Japanese state-of-the-art listening devices, encryption and communications equipment which was shipped to Iran in 1994 and 1995. This equipment was used to outfit both the Iranian and Bosnian intelligence services, some of which was found by the NATO forces in the Bosnian Vavak raid. In 1997, Fallahan was found guilty - in absentia - by the Germans for the assassination of Kurdish leaders in Berlin. The discovery of Fallahan, the advanced equipment, plans and hordes of Iranian spies on euro soil finally shocked western Europe into demanding Bosnia disconnect itself from Tehran. Today, while American airpower hurls itself on the suburbs of Belgrad for CNN cameras, there is another war. The flashy shows of missile strikes and stealth attacks being played out in the skies dominate the press. The real dirty war in Kosovo is fought with an AK-47 or SKS rifle at close range. The initial supply of guns for the KLA was taken from the armories of the Yugoslavian and Albanian communist states as they disintegrated. The first batch of local guns were not enough to sustain a war. The aging equipment has since been re-enforced with brand new Chinese made rifles. In the 1980s, the CIA combined with middle eastern heroin smugglers and Chinese weapons makers to assist the Afghans during their long war against the ex-Soviet Union. The dirty war in Afghanistan bred the CIA trained, Saudi millionaire, Bin Laden. Bin Laden fought the Soviets with U.S. and Chinese made equipment. The KLA has rearmed using the same not-so-old religious connection through the Iranians and Chinese arms smugglers. The KLA "praise the lord and pass the ammunition" strategy includes drug smugglers well known to the CIA and former Albanian communists, now backing the KLA. Two benefactors from Clinton's dirty little war in Kosovo are Poly Technologies and NORINCO, both arms firms owned by Chinese Generals. Norinco SKS assault rifles currently grace the KLA forces operating inside Kosovo. NBC and CNN have shown KLA rebels, armed with Chinese SKS rifles and their distinctive, fixed, 10 round clip. You can see the same SKS rifles in the well known picture of Clinton reviewing Chinese troops in Tiananmen square on the cover of the book "Year of the Rat." Poly Tech is better known to the Clinton administration. Poly Technologies was busted in 1996 by U.S. Customs agents posing as drug dealers trying to buy a couple of AK-47s. The customs raid netted over 2,000 fully automatic AK-47s, hand grenades, anti-tank rockets and shoulder fired surface-to-air (SAM) missiles. The Chinese arsenal was hidden in a cargo container freshly unloaded from a COSCO (China Ocean Shipping Company) ship, docked in Los Angeles. The Poly Tech workers have all been released by the inept Reno Dept. of Justice. Some fled the country and have returned to China. Following the fiasco, Clinton officials issued a statement, saying the arms were destined for "drug" dealers in the United States. Poly Tech is also known to Janet Reno for another reason. Charlie Trie and Poly Tech President Wang Jun met with Commerce Secretary Ron Brown after donating over $50,000 to the DNC. In fact, Poly Tech President Wang Jun met with Ms. General Reno's boss, Mr. Clinton, inside the White House just after that donation through Trie and Brown. In April, 1996, Secretary Brown lost his life in the former Yugoslavia. Brown died in a plane crash just outside of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Brown died along with a host of the highest and mightiest of U.S. Corporate heads. The death of the Secretary came as a blow to the White House and to the criminal investigations of Ron Brown's Commerce Dept. It was well known that a Special Prosecutor was preparing heavy evidence of corruption. Brown's death stopped that investigation just before the 1996 election. The blow to the White House was displayed by Clinton himself who personally burst into tears at Ron's funeral. Clinton had just stepped out of his limo, laughing his guts out, when he noticed several TV cameras were focused on him. It was then Clinton burst into the "boo-hoos" for Brown. However, another Commerce employee was involved in the fatal Croatia trip. Ira Sockowitz, a DNC fundraiser, New York banker and co-worker of John Huang at the Commerce Dept. was scheduled to fly into Cilipi airport along with Brown. Curiously, Sockowitz chose to leave ahead of Brown on an advance flight instead of going with the Secretary on a flight packed with DNC fat-cats. After the crash, Sockowitz was the man in Croatia that identified Ron Brown's body. Once he was safely back in D.C., Ira Sockowitz collected a vast array of information on Bosnia and Croatia given to Ron Brown for that last flight. In August of 1996, Ira Sockowitz quietly took detailed bios of the Bosnian and Croatian leaders out of the secured facility at the Commerce Department to his new job at the Small Business Administration. These secret documents would join a host of other classified material from the Department of State, NSA, CIA, Commerce, Russia, and France. All hidden in a personal safe just before the 1996 Presidential election. There are many questions about that last fatal flight. For example, there were several interesting companies represented on Brown's trip into Dubrovnik. Dubrovnik is an ex-Yugoslav submarine base and a few of the dead had their own under-water skills. For example, Stuart Tholan, President of Bechtel Corp., a well known contractor to the CIA and a prime contractor on sub base building for DOD. Another flyer was David Ford, President and Chief Executive Officer for Interguard Corp., a company that provides high tech security guards for Navy bases. Finally, there was Walter Murphy, Senior Vice President for AT&T Submarine Systems Sub Communications Systems. In July 1996, Secretary Kantor replaced Ron Brown and led a new delegation of corporate contributors to Bosnia. The list of big companies riding with Kantor is covered with blacked-out sections withheld by the Commerce Dept. Some of those traveling with Kanto include ABB, AT&T, Bechtel, Boeing, Enron, McDonalds, and Motorola. In his televised attempt to explain the NATO airstrikes, Clinton noted that there was some amount of money at stake in the crisis over Kosovo. So far, the Pentagon estimated we have spent $500 million in bombing Serbia. After the bombs, Clinton will propose a "re-building" package of U.S. aid to repair the Serb Police HQ and all the bridges destroyed by NATO forces. More billions to hand out as corporate pork. Yet, while the bombs fall and the innocent victims die, liberal lovers of Bill Clinton need to ask themselves, just what are we fighting for? Is it to save the Kosovo people or to protect the profits of war? ================================================================ source documents - http://www.softwar.net/kosovo.html ================================================================ - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 13:09:41 EDT From: DavidMcR@aol.com Subject: (abolition-usa) Congressman Ron Paul on War in Kosovo In a message dated 4/8/99 2:20:05 AM Eastern Daylight Time, reporter@mailhost.magicnet.net writes: << ------------ On March 29, Congressman Paul (R-Texas), the only libertarian in Congress, issued the following statement: Burning Bridges: Attacks on Kosovo Unjustified, Shameful This is not a proud moment for America, as the United States military has been used to invade a sovereign nation that threatened neither our security, nor even the borders of our allies or friends. Yet, for an Administration enthralled with the notion of a paternalistic government that cares for everyone, everywhere, all the time, President Clinton's actions in Serbia should not be surprising. Just as this president believes he and his government can best order the lives of each American citizen (he recently said that Americans shouldn't be given a tax cut because they would not spend the money as wisely as he and his administration would), he is confident that he can solve the problems of the world. His track record suggests otherwise; despite the fanfare and speeches, there is still violence raging from the Middle East to Ireland -- all great "successes" for this president. For as bad as the violence is toward the ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, our ability to police and stop all ethnic fighting around the world is quite limited, and the efforts are quite simply not permitted under constitutional law. We do not even pretend to solve the problems of sub-Saharan Africa, Tibet, East Timor, Kurdistan, and many other places around the world where the violence is endless and just as tragic. Most importantly, though, is the simple fact that meddling in the internal affairs of a nation involved in civil war is quite dangerous. Both sides believe themselves to be correct, and neither side will appreciate the other side receiving assistance. If anything, our involvement threatens to escalate the situation. No successful military action has ever -- or likely will ever -- involve only air power; ground troops must be involved. While a stealth jet will likely always escape the "primitive" weapons of the Serbs, a bullet aimed at a soldier can be very primitive, yet just as effective as the most modern of firearms. Some argue the US is needed to stop the spread of war. Our presence will do the opposite. Peaceful and cooperative relations with Russia, a long-desired goal, are now greatly threatened. Our bombings are likely to provoke the Russians into now becoming a much more active ally of Serbia. Our determination to be involved in the dangerous civil war may well prompt a stronger Greek alliance with their friends in Serbia, further splitting NATO and offending the Turks, who are naturally inclined to be sympathetic to the Albanian Muslims. Contrary to his campaign slogan, President Clinton's actions are burning bridges to the 21st Century. The tragedy is that it will be our soldiers -- our brothers, sisters, sons and daughters -- who are trapped by these senseless actions, and it will be the innocent women and children of Serbia who will bear the brunt of the bombings. Sympathy and compassion for the suffering and voluntary support for the oppressed is commendable, even honorable. But as history shows, ethnic peace is not achieved by outside forces committing acts of war to pick and choose sides in fighting that dates back hundreds of years. The use of force and acts of war can only spread the misery and suffering, weaken our defenses, and undermine our national sovereignty. This is not a proud time for the United States. -- Congressman Ron Paul America Betrayed... "When we consider the original American vision -- of a peaceful, commercial republic that would be a beacon of freedom, trading with all and staying out of the endless quarrels of the Old World -- we can only be utterly alienated from the regime that rules a country conceived in liberty. It is clearer than ever that the U.S. warfare state must be dismantled, so that it can no longer threaten the world, or trample on true American ideals." -- from "Freedom vs. War," a WorldNetDaily column on the Kosovo crisis by Llewellyn H. Rockwell, Jr., president of the Ludwig von Mises Institute. ___________________________________________________________________ You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] vegetarian, nonviolence, consensus -Food Not Bombs List fnb-l@tao.ca -distributing food in opposition to violence -archive: http://archive.foodnotbombs.ca -active cities: http://webcom.com/peace -send '(un)subscribe fnb-l' to majordomo@tao.ca -- "Red Youth" is the mailing list of the Young People's Socialist League (http://sp-usa.org/ypsl). The lefty.techsi.com server is not operated by the owners of the techsi.com domain. Views expressed in this email do not reflect the opinions of TSI, its officers, customers, or minions. To unsubscribe, e-mail RedYouth-request@lefty.techsi.com Subject: unsubscribe >> - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. Do not use quotes in your message. ------------------------------ Date: Thu, 8 Apr 1999 10:43:07 -0700 From: "David Crockett Williams" Subject: (abolition-usa) Fw: Russian Military Hawks on Kosovo - -----Original Message----- From: Carol Moore To: Peace list from Date: Thursday, April 08, 1999 10:10 AM Subject: Russian Military Hawks on Kosovo >FYI. This is why we might end up in unintended or >accidental nuclear war within a matter of weeks. >Check out my just finished article: >"Four Reasons We May See Nuclear War in 1999" >http://www.kreative.net/carolmoore/4-reasons-nuke-war.html >Includes links. Carol in D.C. >(pardon duplicates--wanted to get out quick before leave today) This following story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 04/08/99. >=A9 Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. >------- >BOSTON GLOBE >RUSSIA'S MILITARY SEES A BALKAN OPPORTUNITY > >By David Filipov, Globe Staff, 04/08/99 > > MOSCOW - Remember ''The Peacemaker''? > The 1997 Hollywood flick in which a >maverick Russian general, disgruntled over the >sad state of his once proud country, steals nuclear >warheads for Bosnian Serb terrorists? > >That was the movie. Here is the reality. > >Today's maverick is Viktor Chechevatov, a >three-star general and commander of ground >forces in Russia's Far East region, who is >convinced that NATO's attacks on Yugoslavia >are ''the beginning of World War III.'' No matter >how often Russian President Boris N. Yeltsin says >Russia will stay away from the fighting, >Chechevatov keeps making public calls for >Moscow to send arms and men, preferably with him in charge, to fight the > >American-led alliance alongside the Serbs. > >At the very least, this is insubordination. But do not look for >Chechevatov to >be fired, or even reprimanded, anytime soon. Much of the country agrees >with Chechevatov when he says NATO's campaign against Yugoslavia >poses ''a direct threat to Russia.'' And the Kremlin, which yesterday >ordered >several more warships into the Mediterranean, may be listening, too. > >As Russians watch the US-led assault on Yugoslavia, political and >military >hawks are finding more support for their confrontational policies toward >the >West than at any time since the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union. They >miss the way the West feared the former USSR, and they want those days >back. > >That poses a number of dangers, analysts say. In the short run, the >Kremlin >may find itself forced to take an increasingly militaristic line, even >as Yeltsin >repeats his promise not to let Russia get caught up in the conflict. > >But there are other forces in the Russian leadership who listen when >Chechevatov and other military leaders say that World War III has begun, > >and that Moscow's best move is to aid the Serbs. > >Yesterday, Russia's lower house of parliament, the State Duma, voted >overwhelmingly for a resolution advising Yeltsin and his government to >send >weapons and an unspecified military mission to Yugoslavia. Last week, >the >upper house passed a similar resolution. > >''There exists the risk of the military pressuring the civilian >leadership for a >military reaction,'' said Alexander Pikayev, an analyst for the Carnegie > >Center in Moscow. ''The political leadership is under greater pressure >from >the leftist and nationalist opposition, which wants to use the Balkan >crisis to >come to power.'' > >Publicly, the Kremlin has so far ignored Chechevatov's call to arms. >Meanwhile, hundreds of volunteers have offered to fight alonside the >Serbs, >thought of by some here as Russia's traditional allies because of the >two >cultures' common Slav heritage and Orthodox Christian religion. The >government has told them to stay home. > >Yesterday, Yeltsin urged Western leaders to accept a unilateral peace >proposal offered by Yugoslavia on Tuesday. Underscoring Moscow's >options if diplomacy fails, a naval spokesman said a squadron of >warships >had set out from the Black Sea base of Sevastopol, Ukraine. Moscow had >previously informed Turkey that as many as eight ships, including the >missile >cruiser Admiral Golovko and several destroyers and frigates, could be >passing through the Bosphorus Strait in the next few days. > >Russia says the ships are heading for exercises in the Mediterranean, >but it is >clear they are intended to send a message to NATO as well. > >Already, Moscow has sent an unarmed electronic reconnaissance ship to >monitor the conflict. The Liman entered the Adriatic Sea yesterday, >where it >will begin relaying information about NATO air strikes back to Moscow - >and possibly to the Serbs, although Russia denies that Belgrade will get > >direct information from the spy ship. > >The danger of all these vessels is not that some Russian officer might >go >freelancing, like that maverick general in ''The Peacemaker,'' and act >unilaterally to escalate the conflict. Military analysts say that even >given the >deterioration of the Russian armed forces over the past decade, the >command structure among field officers is still too rigid to allow that. >But >analysts say Russian ships pose a threat just by being there. > >''The presence of Russians in the area of the conflict could lead to an >uncontrolled escalation of the situation,'' Pikayev said. > >Since the bombing began, commentators have underlined how weak >Russia's military has become, implying that the Cold War-style rhetoric >coming out of Moscow, and such acts of suspending ties with NATO, are >no more than symbols because Russia can go no further. > >In a way this is true. Russia's military owes $1.5 billion in back >wages, >heating bills, and rent. According to the the newspaper Segodnya, it >fields >only 550 warplanes and 1,200 helicopters, 15 times less than 10 years >ago >and about 14 percent of NATO's 12,500 jets and helicopters. Those Black >Sea fleet warships, like many vessels in Russia's four fleets, have not >had >exercises in years. > >But Russia still has 6,660 nuclear warheads. Senior generals have warned > >that Moscow would use them if it felt threatened, and the Northern Fleet > >test-fired a ballistic missile in exercises last week. > >But what does ''threatened'' mean? Russia's defense minister, Igor >Sergeyev, >has said that the events in Yugoslavia are worrisome because they >''could >happen anywhere.'' Many Russians worry NATO could use Kosovo as a >precedent to intervene in Russia's breakaway province of Chechnya, or in > >any of a number of hot spots along proposed routes for oil pipelines out > >from the Caspian Sea. > >''The bombing of Yugoslavia could turn out in the very near future to be >just >a rehearsal for similar strikes on Russia,'' Chechevatov wrote in a >recent >letter to Yeltsin. Nearly two-thirds of Russians agree with the general, > >according to a poll by the Moscow-based Public Opinion Foundation. > >Meanwhile, the nuclear winter in Russia's relations with the West means >that >no significant arms-control initiatives will be signed anytime soon. >More >disturbing is the cancellation of an exchange program that would have >had >US and Russian nuclear weapons officers in constant contact at year's >end >to prevent any launches as a result of Year 2000 computer troubles. > >Someone is happy about what the Balkans crisis may do for Russia's >military: defense factories and military leaders for whom reduced >spending >on the army has been a disaster; officers who for the first time in >years are >holding exercises; officers like Chechevatov, who recently completed >exercises that ''had nothing to do with the Balkans'' in which his >troops >practiced shooting down Tomahawk cruise missiles. > >These people ''are partying 24 hours a day,'' in the words of Russian >defense >anlyst Pavel Felgenhauer. Parliament has already called for increases in > >defense funding, although it is hard to say where the money will come >from. >The Soviet military once enjoyed the lion's share of spending, but the >rest of >the country lived in relative squalor as a result. > >A long-term danger posed by the hawks' increasing influence is that >political >moderates, and those who favor constructive relations with the West, are > >finding their voices drowned out by what one legislator, Alexi Arbatov, >called ''the feeling of helpless rage'' experienced by many Russians. >This may >be the lasting legacy of the Balkan conflict for Russia. > >This story ran on page A01 of the Boston Globe on 04/08/99. >=A9 Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company. > > > > > > > > > - - To unsubscribe to abolition-usa, send an email to "majordomo@xmission.com" with "unsubscribe abolition-usa" in the body of the message. For information on digests or retrieving files and old messages send "help" to the same address. 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