Yugoslavia's "rigged" elections and the 120 foreign observers
2 October 2000
The governments of the European Union and the United States rejected last week's Yugoslav elections
as rigged even as the earliest official news reports from the state-run Tanjug news agency showed opposition
leader Kostunica with a massive lead over President Milosevic.
US president Clinton said "Experienced international observers were prevented from monitoring the election" three days after the vote.
However, former US New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman and House minority leader Chris Spirou, acting as an observer (one of over 200 monitors from 54 countries) said
"I have been included in electoral processes all my life, I was very impressed with the way the elections were held at the polling places I visited. I saw a very
civilized atmosphere in which people expressed their electoral will. I would especially emphasize that I did not see any policemen at the polling places".
Speaking to Serbian television, Spirou added that "Everything was regular, I did not hear any complaints from any of the political parties` representatives. It was a normal civilized process in a democratic country". When asked to comment on the American president's statement, Marjaleena Repo, an elections monitor from Canada, replied that it seemed that "only NATO-approved international observers count".
Some onlookers were critical of most of the 'Western media' that quoted "independent" monitors saying the elections were "a complete mess". It was pointed out that
the United States was openly funding such groups at the same time as backing the official opposition. Election monitors from the Samata party, part of the Indian governing coalition, accused the BBC and CNN of "blatantly biased coverage" and said the Yugoslav elections "were held in a free and fair atmosphere".
The few dissenting voices that were heard seemed to be centred in the Netherlands. Among them was Rob Greene, the
outspoken presenter of the daily Press Review on the Dutch shortwave station Radio Netherlands. He ridiculed
the majority of the Dutch media coverage of the elections with comments like "First it was 'will he cheat?'. Then
it was 'he'll cheat'. Now we're at the stage of 'he's cheated'. The votes, at the time the Dutch national morning
dailies went to press, were still being counted in Yugoslavia but with both Slobodan Milosevic and the
opposition claiming victory there could be only one conclusion: 'Slobo's been cheating'. If so, it was a prime
example of the self-fulfilling prophesy" (25 September) and "A hilarious opening headline in the Protestant Trouw,
but one which points the way the world is going: 'West Says: Milosevic Has Lost'. The idea that the Western
countries, wearing their NATO knuckle-dusters, have a natural right to interfere in the internal affairs of other
countries is now as much a part of our inescapable future as shopping on the Internet" (26 September). Similar
sentiments appeared in the 25 September edition of the Dutch daily Trouw that had a headline of the quotation "A Classic Case Of Western Disinformation" referring to the announcements on the elections from some countries.
During an interview with Ekho Moskvy, Borislav Milosevic (The Yugoslav ambassador to Russia and elder brother of Slobodan Milosevic) was asked why his country had not allowed the members of the Council of Europe and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) to monitor
the voting. He responded by telling his interviewer "You remember the shameful OSCE mission ... thousand of them, headed by the American William Walker, who effectively prepared NATO's aggression against us. The Council of Europe, which has now placed the Yugoslav elections on its agenda, never debated the aggression. For years our application to be admitted to the Council of Europe was ignored. Why?". He
insisted that the 250 foreign observers that were invited were "a very authoritative group of international observers".
"All the observers and our Federal Electoral Commission said the elections were held fairly, in a very democratic atmosphere. The Russian observers also agree with this view. I have spoken to all of them. Ask any of them. The delegation
was made up of various different factions, eight of them. All the factions were represented, except the Union of Right Forces, which did not want to send an observer. I don't know why." Borislav Milosevic called the process "democratic" but added "perhaps the process is not sufficiently computerized. We may lag behind Russia and the developed Western countries in this respect". [Full transcript of interview]
Yugoslavia's official Federal Election Commission announced that Kostunica
finished ahead in the presidential election with 48.96% to Milosevic's 38.52%, thus requiring a second
round. The opposition claimed that Kostunica actually received 55% against Milosevic's 37%. An opposition spokesman later insisted
that Kostunica had won at least 51.5%. The opposition DOS coalition has said it will not take part in a run-off vote.
World Leaders Meet at UN Millennium Summit
6 September 2000
The largest gathering of international world leaders in history is set to take place in New York, United States today. The Namibian delegation opened the 55th General Assembly of the United Nations session last evening, and was followed by a "minute of silent prayer or mediation". The Millennium Summit will officially start on 6th September. Sixty-three leaders are scheduled to speak for five minutes each during the first day, starting with the US president. The second day will have 70 scheduled speakers and the remaining 60 leaders will speak on the third day.
Aside from the official speeches, notable events will include an innovative request from Mongoliato the five members of the United Nations Security Council (United States, Russia, China, Britain and France) to guarantee the country's request to become a completely "nuclear-weapons-free zone". While the general response has been positive, Enkhsaikhan Jargalsaikhany, Mongolia's ambassador to the UN says; "They [the five large powers] are worried about setting what they called a dangerous precedent".
The makeup of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) itself will be scrutinized. The five permanent veto-holding members of UNSC have often been criticized for not representing the whole world and unfairly ignoring smaller countries.
Brazil has requested a seat but this has been rejected by other Latin American countries. While in Nigeria, US president Clinton commented on the issue saying; "The position of the United States is
that the size of the Security Council should be expanded, that there should be a permanent African
seat, and that the holder of that seat should be determined by the African nations, not by the
United States and not by the permanent members of the Security Council." During a visit to Tokyo last week, Russian president Putin said he "supports Japan's bid to become a permanent member of the UN Security Council" and thinks that it "is a worthy candidate for this status".
Tuvalu became the UN's newest member today. The 189 UN member representatives at the Millennium Summit will be joined by Switzerland and the Vatican (as "permanent observer states" ) and Palestine ("permanent observer").
UPDATE: The Summit has lost the North Korean delegation following a diplomatic dispute that occurred in a German airport. According to a North Korean statement: "There occurred a serious incident in which the President of the presidium of the DPRK Supreme
People's Assembly and his party had to return home from Frankfurt, Germany, unable to reach their
destination owing to the obstructive moves of the U.S. administration authorities". The statement added that "people, styling themselves American air security agents, unexpectedly showed up at
the airport and shamelessly claimed that they should inspect the members of our delegation including
the President of the presidium of the Supreme People's Assembly and their belongings as a special
case because the DPRK is a "rogue nation", adding that they received an order from their country." North Korea saw this as a "brigandish act of violating the international usage of travel and neglecting elementary
etiquette and morality for a state representative. Accordingly, it is an unbearable mockery of the
sovereignty of an independent state and a grave challenge to the United Nations and the summit
organised by it". The statement ended with "The recent happening goes to clearly prove that the U.S. is the world's biggest state of hooligans
and rogues. It is an entirely legitimate exercise of our sovereignty for us to take a strong measure against the
brigandish and brazen-faced act of the U.S. The U.S. will come to know what a dear price it will have to pay for having hurt our people's
dignity." An American government spokesman called the incident "a combination of unfamiliarity with our procedures and I think some
unfamiliarity on the part there with the delegation coming through" and said "We regret that they got on a plane and headed back home".
North Korea's ambassador to the UN , Li Hyong Chol, said "This incident is a fabricated scenario of the U.S. administration.
It is an insidious and brazen-faced method of the United States. All these facts clearly show that the United States is a rogue state."
** UPDATE: (6 October 2000) China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States Thursday issued a statement to
welcome the declaration by Mongolia of its nuclear-weapon-free status. The Mongolian ambassador to the United Nations said it was "an important step towards institutionalizing Mongolia's nuclear-weapon-free status at the international level." FULL REPORT (Xinhua)
Journalists Flock to Fijian Website
25 May 2000
"We do it for fun almost" is how Yashwant Gaunder, publisher of the monthly Fijian news and business magazine The Review, comments on the "extra work"
involved in the website Fijilive.com.
The internet site, however, proved indispensable to many international news reporters as they sought
information and the latest news on the attempted coup on 19 May in the South Pacific island.
News outlets as diverse as the Chinese Xinhua news agency (URGENT Fijian Coup Leaders Name New PM: Internet Site), the
BBC (Web news overcomes Fiji blackout) and the German Tageszeitung (Ein Putschist auf Abruf)
often used Fijilive as their main source in reports on the coup. A member of Amnesty International praised the internet site, saying
its journalists had "established their reputation for pretty good coverage during the last elections". The website, which had existed for 14 months
with an average 5,000 daily visitors, was knocked offline when its server crashed after more than 50,000 hits in 24 hours. Within hours,
an alternative address (www.businessnews.com.fj) was set up and computer users around the world were again able
to see the latest news on the Fijian situation updated every ten minutes. As the crisis drags on, Fijilive continues to feature
the latest news articles and photographs.
Annual American Report Release Sparks International War of Words
28 March 2000
The United States government's annual report on human rights was received with disgust and calls of hypocrisy in the many countries that faced criticism. The full report analyses each country with 6 categories; "Respect for the Integrity of the Person", "Respect for Civil Liberties", "Respect for Political Rights", "Governmental Attitude Regarding International and Nongovernmental Investigation of Alleged Violations of Human Rights", "Discrimination..." and "Worker Rights"
The Chinese government countered with its own report entitled "50 Years of Progress in China's Human Rights"
while issuing a 10,000 word article "US Human Rights Record in 1999" that takes a critical look at the US under headings such as 'Infringement on citizens' economic and social rights' and 'Serious problems of racial discrimination'.
The foreign minister of Pakistan's military government called the US report "a compilation of unfounded reports mostly collected from unreliable sources based on hearsay and so-called off-the-record conversations"
Malaysian minister Rais Yatim rejected criticism of the country's trial of Anwar Ibrahim. The official of the Prime Minister's department said;
"They should instead look at their own back yard first as the number of human rights violations in the US itself is horrendous... The rampant human rights violations taking place in the
Bronx area, for example, were never told to the world".
Myanmar called the US report's allegations of torture of ethnic minorities and forced labour "ridiculous".
A statement issued by the ruling generals stated; "The government of Myanmar believes it is absolutely improper and insensitive to accuse other nations or governments just based on hearsay evidence. They remind us of a popular Western expression, `my mind is made up, do not confuse me with facts'."
The North Korean government news agency KCNA described the report as "full of absurd view[s] on value and logic reversing black and white". The agency added that "the United States is not qualified to say anything about the human rights situation in the world" since "Out of every 100,000 people in the U.S. eight persons are murdered, at least 300 injured, more
than 70 women raped, at least 200 people plundered and over 5,000 people are robbed of their properties every year". Describing American society, KCNA declared that "only the ...inhuman political view based on the jungle law that 'a man must be a wolf towards the other man' is accepted."
NATO's Losses in Yugoslavia
23 June 1999
Many analysts were sceptical of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization's tactics in the war against Yugoslavia.
The alliance however, apparently achieved its objective of removing Serb troops from Kosovo province without a mass ground invasion by NATO troops.
NATOdeclared victory, but not everyone believed their claims of having lost only two lives in a Apache helicopter crash during an Albanian "training flight" on 5 May. The United States also admitted losing
two jets in Yugoslavia without casualties.
The Yugoslav public on the other hand, received a quite different impression from their news outlets. Local radio stations and
the official Tanjug news agency reported almost daily accounts of downed NATO aircraft. While many Western news agencies regarded this as government propaganda
to boost national morale during the punishing air strikes, the respected Russian semi-official Itar-Tass and Chinese Xinhua agencies did repeat some of the Yugoslav claims.
These claims were backed by some organizations such as the International Strategic Studies Association, based in the US capital, that wrote in their 'Defense & Foreign Affairs' journal
that information from "a variety of highly-reputable sources" led them to believe that NATO had lost at least "38 fixed-wing combat aircraft, six helicopters and seven unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) "
which included many pilot deaths. Meanwhile, a Greek tabloid "Vradyni", claimed that NATO had lost "81 soldiers" after 28 days of attacks, a report proudly repeated by the Serbia-Info news website. Fellow Greek journal Athinaiki
also caused speculation on the internet with a report that 19 bodies of NATO soldiers were being sent home and that 88 soldiers in total were "missing".
The Russian international radio broadcaster The Voice of Russia (VOR) has repeatedly quoted sources in reports on downed planes. In a 6 April dispatch VOR reported "According to the Russian military... NATO has lost about a dozen planes, including two F1-17 stealth bombers, and nearly 3 dozen cruise missiles".
Four days later VOR broadcast; "Russian Military sources claim that over 20 planes, 5 helicopters and several dozen cruise missiles have been brought down in Yugoslavia since NATO launched its raids." In a 14 April interview with Moscow newspaper Krasnaya Zvezda , Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic claimed 39 planes have been shot down and that NATO was hiding its losses.
By 7th June VOR said that more than 50 NATO planes, including UAVs, had been lost over Yugoslavia.
Arguably the most credible of the incidents not acknowledged by NATO is that reported by witnesses in Veles, Macedonia. A1TV news from
Skopje interviewed witnesses that said they had seen a NATO pilot in the area, wearing a bright orange jacket. When the witnesses tried to approach the man he ran away
into a nearby forest, where two NATO helicopters were later seen to land. This led many to believe that the pilot had ejected from his plane. NATO did not make any comment on the incident on Macedonian territory.
As countries that participated in the NATO air strikes recall their planes from the Balkans it may be revealed if the Yugoslav army's official post-war tally of at least 120 downed planes is anything more than wishful thinking or if NATO's losses were actually greater than just a few UAVs.
Your comments are welcome at michaeltm@excite.com .
NATO's Erratic Missiles Land in Balkan Countries
4 May 1999
By the 41st day of NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia, Romania remained the only one of the seven countries bordering Yugoslavia that has not been hit by
wayward NATO missiles. The following list gives various examples of NATO errors since the start of its air campaign:
26 March: Missile fragments fall on Bulgaria info
28 March: Missile lands in Macedonia info
31 March: Missile lands near Bulgarian village info
2 April: Two missiles land in Albania info
6 April: Two missiles land in Macedonia (Tanjug, Macedonian news sources)
20 April: Part of missile found in Croatia info
23 April: Missile lands in Bulgaria info
27 April: Missile lands in Boszenfa, Hungary (Hungarian News Agency)
29 April: Missile hits house in Bulgarian capital info
1 May: Two missiles dropped near Bogomila, Macedonia (Tanjug quoted local mayor)
3 May: Two missiles dropped near Sveti Nikola, Macedonia (Sitel TV, Macedonia)
On at least one occasion NATO has said that missiles have landed within Bosnia and Hercegovina. According to NATO, explosions of missiles have been mistaken for NATO plane crashes in Bosnia.
Romania has not escaped the war completely however. On 15 April, Itar-Tass reported that two NATO aircraft fuel tanks were found in Romanian territory
and on 19 April, two NATO planes illegally violated Romanian airspace.
The Russian Space Regatta Consortium's Znamya 2,5 experiment is about to be released from the Mir space station.
On 4 February a mirror called Znamya (Russian for "banner"), will orbit Earth along with Mir and its "Progress M-40" attachment. The result will be the illumination of
various cities at night from space. It is planned that Znamya mirror will be seen on parts of the U.S.-Canadian border, in the Netherlands, Germany, the Czech Republic, Ukraine, southern Russia and Kazakhstan.
According to the SRC, specifically targeted cities are Karaganda, Aktubinsk and the Zaisan lake in Kazakhstan, Saratov in Russia, Kovel and Poltava in the Ukraine, Lies (Liege?) in Belgium, Frankfurt in Germany, Winnipeg, Calgary and Quebec city in Canada and Devil lake in the United States.
The areas within 300 km of these targets should also see the mirror.
A Canadian map showing where Znamya can be seen is here. The SRC also has a world map of the path (dark yellow indicates where the mirror may be visible from).
This experiment was initially planned for 9 November 1998 but was postponed because of a lack of funds.
A similar experiment was conducted in 1993 but bad weather meant that the "Znamya 2" was not visible from the ground.
For more information here are two Znamya sites: Fuzz-Zen: Znamya 2.5 Website and Space Regatta –2000 Znamya
Several Countries May Use Armies on 1 January 2000
Russian Research Institutes Hit by American Sanctions
17 January 1999
The Moscow State Aviation Institute and the Mendeleyev University of Chemical Technology were among the three Russian research centres hit by United States sanctions for allegedly
"providing weapons technology" to Iran. The third centre, according to Itar-Tass reports, is the Research and Development Institute of Power Engineering (headquarters for the Russian International Nucleur Safety Centre). The Russian Secret Service; FSB has launched its own investigation. Senior FSB spokesman Alexander Zdanovich told Itar-Tass
"As a result of careful work it has been ascertained that there are no violations on the part of these organisations of requirements of international regimes of export control of non-proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and missile means of their delivery". Zdanovich went to say that the sanctions indicated a "biased attitude of the American side to cooperation of Russia's state organisations with foreign countries, including the Islamic Republic of Iran". The Russian parliament voted to censure this American "interference in Russia affairs". The Islamic republic of Iran has also denied the US allegations.
CHINA: President Jiang Zemin was telling the US government and international human rights groups that they "didn't understand China" as dissidents who wanted to create their own political party were given stiff penalties. Local newspapers had articles which said "some Western media organizations and people are ignorant of China's human-rights policy when they say that China's reform and opening-up policy will be "reversed" and accuse China of "retrogression in political reform" based on their view of the case of Xu Wenli and a few others".
(Segments of Chinese newspaper article Protecting Human Rights Calls for Punishing Criminals: 3, 5, 6)
RUSSIA: The Duma is close to a vote on impeaching President Boris Yeltsin. Alleged offences include instigating the 1991 collapse of the Soviet Union and starting the war in Chechnya. Even if the motion passes, the state constitution makes it extremely unlikely that Yeltsin will be removed from office.
IRNA reported earlier that sources said U.S. and British forces crossed the Saudi Arabian border and advanced 5km into Iraq territory. Later Xinhua reported that Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan replied by saying Iraq hopes to confront U.S.-British forces "face-to-face" when asked about the report. Neither Reuters nor AP have carried any mention of the alleged border crossings. Saudi Arabia has denied the reports.
Asahi Shimbun reported on 18 December that Japan-based U.S. forces were standing by in Gulf and "may possibly join landing operations and other special expeditions if the battle against Iraq intensifies"