WHAT IS MY OFFENSE?
INTERVIEW WITH SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC.
Interviewers, Jared Israel and Nico Varkevisser
===============================================
MILOSEVIC'S GOLD
I have been attacked for everything. The U.S. envoy, Richard Holbrooke, once
told me, the Swiss government is going to freeze your accounts. I said, "Why
stop there? Here, wait a moment." I wrote a few words and gave him the
paper. "Here. I've signed all my foreign bank account assets over to you.
You may keep every penny."
He was taken aback. "I may?"
I said, "Yes! Unfortunately, there are no accounts."
Generally in banking you cannot have presidents of countries hiding vast
amounts of money. It's simply nonsense. The goal of all the news reports
about how they haven't yet found my money is to give people the false
impression that there's something to look for.
THE MEDIA AND BLAMING THE VICTIM
The other night I was watching TVBK, a private Serbian TV station. Someone
was criticizing the media, and right in the middle, the station cut the
power. Just like that. The screen went black. It shows how worried this DOS
regime [installed in a coup d'etat in October 2000] is when faced with the
least critical thought.
They accuse me of having been a dictator. That's ridiculous. Before the DOS
coup d'etat we had democracy. 95% of the media was privately owned and the
opposition controlled most of it. In Kosovo the Albanians had more than 20
different media. In any neighborhood you could buy a newspaper attacking the
government.
We didn't have one political prisoner. But this new regime has issued
so-called 'amnesty' laws, freeing members of the KLA convicted for murdering
children and the like. They call this 'the new political freedom.' I call it
legalizing terror.
How did my supposed dictatorship manifest itself? Ibrahim Rugova, the
Albanian secessionist leader, could have a press conference in Belgrade. He
could walk around freely, have lunch, and criticize everything. And he did.
Nobody bothered him.
They've accused me of being behind a rash of killings that occurred before
the coup d'etat. The Defense Minister was killed. The Prime Minister of the
province of Vojvodina was killed. The Secretary General of the Yugoslav
Left. The Deputy Interior Minister of Serbia. The Managing Director of
Yugoslav Airlines, a friend of mine since Gymnasium, he was killed. These
were people I worked with, friends. No opposition leader was killed. So, I
was killing my friends and sparing my enemies. A unique strategy.
When a crime occurs, shouldn't one ask: Qui bono? [Who gains?] Isn't it
obvious that these killings were carried out to benefit our foreign
opponents? That they were an attempt to intimidate men and women in our
government? But the Western-controlled media says I was responsible.
The opposition media demonized our government and me and my family in every
possible way. They accused my son of being a criminal.
The TV mixed these slanders with programs imported from America; flashy
images, seductive especially to young people. They are doing this all over
the world. It is a cultural attack.
Of course it had some effect. People in our country aren't used to
advertising techniques based on the repetition of false images. The
opposition learned these techniques from their US and other NATO handlers.
I've been using the term 'opposition', but in fact we had no opposition. We
had a Fifth Column. It was paid huge sums by the people who bombed us. This
was openly admitted.
And this Fifth Column, who now occupy government positions, has gone so far
as to agree to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, a false Tribunal created
as another part of the genocide against the Serbs. Once in awhile they
arrest an Islamic Fundamentalist or a Croatian fascist, to imply balance.
But the goal is to destroy those who uphold Yugoslavia, who defend Serbia,
to leave ordinary people vulnerable to attack and to make the world think
resistance is impossible.
This past week the current authorities in Belgrade shipped their first
victim to The Hague. He is a Serb from Bosnia, active in refugee work.
And we are seeing Hague-type justice in Belgrade as well. The present
authorities have arrested Dragoljub Milanovic the director of RTS [the State
TV station].
This is how it went. In January, Hague Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, came to
Belgrade. She accused me and Dragoljub Milanovic of murder. Why? Because on
April 23, 1999 NATO bombed RTS, killing 16 people in one of their cruelest
bombing raids. And, she said, NATO had made it clear they would bomb; so by
her mad logic, we were responsible.
On April 8th French officials did threaten to bomb RTS. On the 9th we
surrounded the TV station with a human shield, journalists, managers,
officials, all together, arms linked. Serbian citizens were doing the same
on bridges and in factories, everywhere. Then Wesley Clark seemed to
withdraw the threat, but in any case what were we to do? Not go to work?
Employees occupied our biggest auto plant and wrote a letter appealing to
NATO not to bomb. NATO bombed anyway, killing and wounding scores of people.
Were the victims guilty? Mr. Milanovic was working at RTS all month and
could have been killed as well. Would that have made him responsible for 17
deaths, instead of 16?
Of course, Carla del Ponte works for NATO, for the bombers. And the new
Belgrade authorities who have now actually arrested Dragoljub Milanovic on
this crazy charge, these people work for NATO too.
WAR CRIMES - WHO IS GUILTY?
There were war crimes in Kosovo. But by whom? By the terrorists, who
committed atrocities as a matter of course. By NATO which never hurt our
military. They bombed our homes. They dropped cluster bombs on our green
markets. Bombs encased in uranium.
These are war crimes. And they are guilty of the greatest crime of all: they
launched an illegal, aggressive war.
All their actions now, everything they do, is intended to hide the criminal
responsibility of Clinton, Albright, Blair, Schroeder, Solana, all the
others. The worst war criminals.
But they accuse me. They say I ordered the slaughter of Albanians in Kosovo.
And to prove it they sent forensic experts all over Kosovo, looking for
atrocities. This was a propaganda effort, not a scientific investigation. It
was theater - for the media. Every step these experts took was reported:
they are looking for the bodies; they will soon unearth the bodies; they
have found a shoe; and so on. With all that, people had to assume: there
must be some serious crimes here.
The news that they were looking was big news but the news that they had
found nothing - that was very small news. It is my opinion that many people
in your countries still believe we committed genocide against Albanians in
Kosovo.
THE JUNE 1999 PEACE ACCORDS
At the end of May 1999 the Russians proposed to us the so-called Yeltsin
peace plan. It was good. Then it appears the Russians met with the Americans
in Finland, and when the Russian envoy, Victor Chernomyrdin arrived in
Belgrade the plan was entirely different. Kosovo was said to remain a part
of Yugoslavia but the plan also called for full withdrawal of Yugoslav
forces and for UN occupation. We said, how do we know this will not turn
into NATO occupation and UCK [KLA] terror? Chernomyrdin swore to us that our
Russian brothers would not permit this.
What were we to do? On the one hand, the Russian administration promised not
to let NATO take over. On the other hand, there was a clear threat. NATO had
begun carpet bombing of Kosovo. If we did not accept, the Russians made it
clear they would withdraw their support and we would be condemned in the
international media as warmongers who wouldn't even accept a peace plan from
our Russian brothers. So we agreed to sign. Our government leadership
discussed it, and then it was discussed in parliament, which voted to sign
the agreement.
THE OCT. 5TH COUP IN BELGRADE
After the October 5th coup d'etat I resigned the presidency.
I didn't have to do that. We could have mounted a counter attack. But our
government discussed the situation. It was our opinion that the foreign
powers wanted to provoke a bloodbath. Their idea was, we would strongly
resist; their Fifth Column would stage violent provocations; we would act to
preserve order; and then their agents would stage murderous incidents for
the camera, blaming us to create the impression of ruthless repression. Then
under cover of defending themselves they could carry out a Chilean solution,
supported by outside forces.
Also, many ordinary people were at that time deceived by the DOS media, by
the demonization of our government and by many false promises, seemingly
backed-up by images from Western TV, seductive images of wealth.
It was our opinion that NATO wanted to provoke civil war, have a blood bath
and let the Serbs kill each other. Create a pretext for intervention.
We have direct experience with war. The losses cannot be replaced. So if
possible, it is better to make a struggle in the political sphere.
So I resigned. This took the Americans by surprise. I am told that [US
Secretary of State Madeleine] Albright called Steven Erlanger from the NY
Times on the sixth of October, very upset. "Is it possible he resigned?" She
couldn't believe it. It spoiled their plans.
ON THE ECONOMY
* NICO VARKEVISSER ASKED *
Do you think current economic problems stem from the incompetence of the new
authorities, or have they been deliberately created?
* PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC ANSWERED *
Definitely deliberate. The economy has been ruined. Competent managers have
been driven out using violence or threats. They've been replaced with people
who are incompetent but do what the authorities tell them. And what do they
tell them? To paralyze the economy, to bankrupt entire industries so they
can be sold for peanuts to their patrons in the West. This isn't like
old-fashioned colonialism. The foreigners put their proxies in power and
simply strip the country, destroy local productive capacity and then dump
their junk.
Here's an example: Before the coup d'etat we were producing 400,000 to
500,000 tons of fertilizer per year. We were exporting fertilizer. But I
read in the newspaper that this year we already had to import 90,000 tons.
And it is inferior quality.
In our Constitution [of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] we put an
article stating that all kinds of property would have equal protection. Our
intention was that privatization would be linked to the development of the
economy, that it would be carried out insofar as it aided the economy. Our
goal was optimal development of all forms of property. We were saying we
would not ban any approach based on ideological disapproval of some form of
property.
You must understand what we had before. Consider the question of land. In
the past, under the old Yugoslavia, the Socialist Republic, more than 90% of
the land was private. We never had cooperatives.
We had had a 10-hectare limit on the size of a farm. But new technologies
meant that 10 hectares was too small. A single family, if properly
organized, could handle much more land. A child might be able to operate
irrigation technologies, where before they required immense labor. We're not
talking about latifundia here - why limit property to 10 hectares and have
farmers living in poverty? Our aim was not to get into total privatization,
just to have optional structures.
Those tough sanctions that were imposed on us in 1993 completely blocked the
economy. For several months we had 350 million percent inflation. We
responded by developing a plan that cut inflation to zero in 1994. The main
element was the decision to finance the budget with real wealth. Before that
we always simply set a budget to finance education, health, state
administrative functions and so on. Then we paid salaries this month by
printing money, expecting that we'd bring in the money next month. When
inflation started there was no way to cover costs based on income from
taxes, so we took strong measures: the printing of money was cut. We said,
you will get salaries as soon as the state gets money from taxes
But with all our problems, consider the difference between the neighboring
countries and us. We had one million refugees, war, sanctions, a total
blockade. Not only didn't Bulgaria and Rumania have sanctions and war, but
they were associate members of the European union so they should have had
some gains from that position. Yet there were thousands of Bulgarians and
Romanians coming here, looking for work. Why? Because our neighbors were
devastated by the policies enforced by their Western friends.
In the first winter after the NATO bombing [i.e., the winter of 1999-2000]
we had no restrictions on heating. That was a fierce winter. The next winter
was mild, but the new so-called Democrats [Mr. Milosevic is referring to the
'Democratic' Opposition of Serbia, which seized power in a coup d'etat Oct.
5, 2000] with all their promises that the West would do this and do that -
what did they achieve? Constant electrical shortages. And remember, we heat
mostly with electricity.
How can I help but be proud of what we achieved?
* JARED ISRAEL *
Speaking of that, I think you should be proud of your courage, staying in
Yugoslavia after the coup d'etat last October, despite the threats against
you.
* SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC *
Thank you. I imagine they hoped I would run away.
======================
FURTHER READING:
======================
* Slobodan Milosevic's famous speech at Kosovo Field, 1989, official US
government translation: http://emperors-clothes.com/milo/milosaid.html BBC
translation: http://emperors-clothes.com/milo/versions.htm
* Prof. Francisco Gil-White's analysis of the avalanche of what can only be
described as lies about the 1989 Milsoevic speech at Kosovo Field, "Media
Misrepresentation of Milosevic's Words: A Review of the Evidence," at
http://emperors-clothes.com/milo/gw.htm
* Streaming video, "Take Your Suitcases of Cash, Mr. Djindjic!" - Jared
Israel interviewed for Serbian TV
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/tv.htm
* Streaming video of Serbian rally March 24, 2001 including speech by Mr.
Israel http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/rally.htm
Article: "KLA Attacks Everyone; Media Attacks...Miloshevich?" by Jared
Israel at http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/jared/expan.htm
***
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