LOCAL PRESS

 

Serbian-Albanian battle for UNESCO (Politika)

There is still no official confirmation from UNESCO that the request for Kosovo’s admission to this organization has arrived, Politika was told in the Serbian Foreign Ministry. If there is confirmation that such a request had been sent, the Republic of Serbia will attempt to prevent Kosovo’s membership in UNESCO with all available diplomatic means, bearing in mind the non-acceptability of this request from the legal, political and cultural point of view. The Serbian Foreign Ministry points out that they will continue with all activities directed at ensuring full implementation of UNSCR 1244 from 1999. “Any examination of the request for Kosovo’s admission to UNESCO would not only represent the violation of UNSCR 1244 but would also have a very negative impact on the ongoing Belgrade-Pristina dialogue in Brussels,” reads the response of the Serbian Foreign Ministry to Politika.

 

Djuric: Kosovo’s membership in UNESCO would be top cynicism (Politika/TV Pink)

The Serbian government and Serbian diplomacy do not accept the idea for Kosovo to be a member of UNSECO and they will fight against this, the Head of the Office for Kosovo and Metohija Marko Djuric said, describing the initiative as “top cynicism” and politically irresponsible. “Those who are requesting this today are the main culprits of the destruction of hundreds of Serbian sanctities in Kosovo. I think that the very idea for those who have come out of the war as war commanders, then camouflaged themselves and became politicians, to request today to administer and make decisions on the sanctities that they were destroying while they were in uniforms – is top cynicism and political irresponsibility”, Djuric told TV Pink. He says that such an idea in political sense is not a good signal. He specified that Serbian diplomacy will undertake all steps at its disposal to prevent something like that. “As regards concrete possibilities, UNESO membership is reserved for states, and not provinces, and UNESCO, as one of the key organizations of the UN system, should not admit a creation that we can never recognize as an independent state,” said Djuric. Asked how this will reflect the Belgrade-Pristina dialogue, Djuric said that it should be conducted in such a way to primarily enable normalization of the life of ordinary people. “It is neither easy or all the same for us to have to talk with people who we know what and how they did, but we will talk with anyone who can make our people safer and who can be responsible on behalf of the Albanians,” said Djuric.

 

Drecun: Pristina “fulfills” conditions because it set on fire Orthodox sanctities (Politika)

The Chairman of the Serbian parliamentary Committee for Kosovo and Metohija Milovan Drecun ironically says that Kosovo “fulfills” all conditions for UNESCO membership, because the fact that several hundreds of Orthodox sanctities that they destroyed, desecrated, set on fire, plundered, probably, according to Albanian leaders, qualifies them for this. It would be high time for the serious part of the international community to stop dealing with the nonsense coming from Pristina. “I am certain that all available diplomatic resources will be put into operation of preventing this from happening. Although, the situation in the UN is such that whoever has the bigger mace often imposes stands,” said Drecun.

 

Great danger from Kosovo becoming UNESCO member (Novosti)

If Kosovo would become a full-fledged member of UNESCO, which is an inter-state organization within the UN system, according to Trivo Indjic, former chairman of the Commission for Cooperation with UNESCO in Serbia, Pristina would receive all administrative rights over the protected Serbian monuments: “They would be treated as Kosovo’s ownership, regardless of the fact that Kosovo is not an UN member, because one can also have UNESCO membership as an associate member or only as a territory. Serbia in that case would not have jurisdiction anymore over them, so that everything would remain on Pristina’s good will. That is why there had been proposals in the past for Serbian monasteries to receive the status of ex-territoriality, which is a question for a status dialogue.”

The Director of the Institute for Balkan Studies of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences Dusan Batakovic tells Novosti that Kosovo, with UNESCO membership, has the goal to falsify history and erase the thousand-year-presence of the Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija, but that this will also be viewed as the first step towards UN membership. He notes that there are no Albanian monuments in Kosovo and Metohija before the end of the XVIII century, except for the towers in Metohija, while the mosques are the Ottoman heritage. “If they become a member of UNESCO, it will be a way for them to legitimize the current state-of-affairs, but also the theory on Kosovo that has been inhabited by Albanians since ancient times, as the natural Albanian ethnic region. The entire heritage will be considered as theirs. They have the theory that Serbian invading kings were building the monuments, but then it is unclear why did they build endowments and their burial places precisely there. Here at issue is the ‘de-ethnification of monuments’,” warns Batakovic.

Former ambassador in the UN Vladislav Jovanovic tells Novosti that Serbia’s only defense when the voting on Kosovo’s membership takes place is referring to the fact that UNMIK, as the UN mission, is still present in Kosovo regardless of the fact that independence has been declared. “Even though ‘teeth have been extracted’ to UNSCR 1244, it is still in force, and regardless of the transfer of jurisdictions on EULEX, the UN role in Kosovo and Metohija has not stopped, including their jurisdiction when it comes to the resolution of the cultural heritage.”

 

Odalovic: Criminals will be brought to justice (Novosti)

The Chairman of the Serbian government’s Office for Missing Persons Veljko Odalovic said that, when the special court in Kosovo and Metohija is formed, time would come for bringing to justice all those responsible for crimes committed against the Serbs in Orahovac Municipality. Odalovic attended a ceremony marking the 17^th anniversary of the crime Kosovo Albanians committed against Serbs in Velika Hoca in Kosovsko Pomoravlje. A service was held by the monument dedicated to victims of Kosovo Albanian terrorism in Velika Hoca in the period from 1998 to 2000.

 

Stefanovic: No knowledge of terrorist attacks on Serbia being prepared (Beta/Tanjug)

The Serbian Interior Ministry has no knowledge of any terrorist attack in Serbia being prepared, but there is always objective concern, said Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic, adding that the Interior Ministry has been taking security measures for months. He told a press conference that strong police forces had been engaged in the implementation of security measures, including the preventive engagement of special units and cooperation with national and foreign services. Commenting on the large number of migrants coming to Serbia, Stefanovic emphasized that no serious incident had happened to date.

 

1,000 police officers to guard B&H Presidency members (Blic)

One thousand plainclothes and uniformed police will be tasked with providing security for the members of the B&H Presidency when they arrive in Serbia on Wednesday, Blic reports. Bakir Izetbegovic, Mladen Ivanic and Dragan Covic will visit Serbia at the invitation of Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who invited them after being brutally attacked on July 11 at Srebrenica. The meeting will probably be held in the resort of Karadjordjevo in northwestern Serbia. Blic has learned that members of the B&H State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) are expected to arrive in Belgrade today to take part in the preparations, and hold a meeting with members of the Serbian Interior Ministry and the Security-Information Agency. After that meeting the route along which the guests from Sarajevo will move will be devised, according to the article. Streets will be closed and opened again along the motorcade’s route as it passes, while traffic patrols will be deployed everywhere, says the daily. The cars with the delegation of the Presidency of B&H will be accompanied by three vehicles with the most experienced members the Serbian directorate tasked with providing security for VIPs. The paper quoted a source, saying that the vicinity of Karadjordjevo will be “practically under siege”, and that “even along the Danube, river police and divers of the Gendarmerie will be on patrol”. Interior Minister Nebojsa Stefanovic on Sunday refused to comment on the specific security measures cited by the daily. “From the moment they enter to the moment they leave Serbia they will be absolutely safe. The obligation of the police is to guarantee their safety and I am confident that in Serbia they will not experience anything similar to what happened to Prime Minister Vucic in Potocari,” Stefanovic told Blic. The daily noted that the investigation into that incident is being conducted by the Prosecutor's Office of B&H, and that so far, no suspects have been arrested.

 

REGIONAL PRESS

 

Vucic asks Dodik to reconsider decision on referendum (Oslobodjenje)

Aleksandar Vucic, Prime minister of Serbia, asked Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska (RS), to reconsider the decision to call a referendum, pointing to the broader context of that problem. “Although I did not openly ask the question, this is about RS’ sovereign decision. I asked on behalf of Serbia that they just reconsider the decision. I am thankful that he respects the view of Serbia, which I think at the moment is fully comprehensive and serious,” said Vucic at a press conference after meeting with Dodik, thanking him for leaving space for a discussion of the referendum. He added that he is also ready, if Dodik asks, “to help present additional arguments that would contribute to an easier understanding of the overall situation. I am ready to do it and if necessary before the RS delegates”. “Serbia never and in no way has interfered in the internal affairs of B&H, nor in internal political matters in the RS. But today on my initiative, I am thankful to Dodik for accepting this kind of talk,” said Vucic, noting that “Serbia would find it hard to exist without the RS, and the RS no less difficult without Serbia”. The final decision, he reiterated, is on the RS. The topic of discussion was also what happened at Srebrenica, and Vucic and Dodik agreed that an attempt to destabilize the region took place there, but it is essential to establish and maintain peace and full stabilization in the region and B&H. Vucic and Dodik also discussed the commencement of works on the Bratunac-Ljubovija bridge, as well as commodity loans and models for infrastructure links.

 

DF: Regardless of the fact that the B&H Prosecutor is under the SDA control we will never permit referenda (Oslobodjenje)

The Democratic Front (DF) will not participate in any possible negotiations with Milorad Dodik, or the political arsonists who support him, around the B&H judicial institutions. Regardless of the fact that the B&H Prosecutor is under the partial control of the SDA’s minions, we will never permit illegal referendum at the entity level to decide issues from the jurisdiction of the B&H parliament. If they believe there are problems with the judicial institutions in B&H, we invite the SNSD to resolve them in the B&H parliament. There are constitutional, legally defined procedures to change the law and any attempts by representatives of the international community to undermine them through extra-institutional negotiations with Milorad Dodik will have an uncompromising opponent in the DF. Representatives of the international community, especially the EU, must keep in mind that they should not once again fall for the trap of Dodik’s threats with this illegal referendum. The SNSD’s goal is not to actually implement the delusional plan on the referendum, because they are aware that it would call into question the Dayton Peace Accord and with it the very existence of the RS as an entity. Dodik’s main goal is to open several months of negotiations with EU representatives who would enable him to write off the catastrophic economic state of RS and the rest of B&H from the agenda. Therefore, we call on international representatives to, if they wish to protect the Dayton Peace Accord from 1995, to react in accordance with the obligations that arise from it.

 

B&H Serb entity should scrap referendum plan, Croatian FM says (Hina)

The Serb leadership should scrap plans for a referendum to challenge the existence of the B&H State Court and State Prosecutor's Office because that would bring into question the B&H Constitution, and the focus should be on the European agenda, Croatian Foreign Minister Vesna Pusic said on Monday. She is in Brussels to attend a meeting of European Union foreign ministers and one of the topics will be the B&H. “I think we are going towards somehow agreeing that this idea should be scrapped because the consequence is de facto bringing into question the B&H Constitution and everything else (the) Dayton (peace agreement) brought. The focus should be on B&H and the RS signing an agreement to begin the implementation of the Stabilization and Association Agreement... That’s crucial and it will be discussed, as well as this referendum idea, where I see no other solution but somehow diverting attention to other matters and scrapping this plan.”

 

B&H Airlines loses flight permit (EX-YU Aviation News)

B&H Airlines’ Air Operator Certificate (AOC) has been suspended by the B&H Directorate of Civil Aviation, prohibiting the indebted carrier from using its aircraft for commercial purposes. It marks the final chapter in the airline’s ten year history. B&H’s AOC has been suspend until at least October 2 and is unlikely to be renewed thereafter. The move ends any hope of the airline’s debt being written off by its providers, primarily the asset company HETA, which is owed over eight million euros for the financial lease of two ATR 72 aircraft. As a result, Icar Air is now the only B&H registered carrier still in operation. The privately-owned airline, launched in 2000, holds a DHL contract and runs freight services between Sarajevo and the Italian coast with a small Let L-410 Turbolet aircraft. B&H Airlines suspended all scheduled and charter flights on June 11, after HETA blocked its accounts on April 20 for a second time this year. Passengers who have booked their tickets with B&H have been urged to contact the airline’s legal department in order to be refunded. B&H Airlines was set up in 2005 on the foundations of Air Bosna, which also went bankrupt after amassing significant debt. The Federation government of Bosnia and Herzegovina is now considering setting up yet another successor. The Prime Minister of the Federation, Fadil Novalic, has suggested for the government to invest 2.7 million euros into the new airline. The carrier would take on part of B&H’s ninety-strong workforce and initially operate with a single leased aircraft. During its ten year run, B&H Airlines was, for a short period, partly owned and managed by Turkish Airlines, which relinquished its share to the B&H state for free in 2012 following disagreements with the government. During its four year partnership with Turkish Airlines, B&H developed its route network and fleet with the introduction of jet-engine aircraft such as the Boeing 737-400 and the Airbus A319. However, the government has maintained that Turkish Airlines’ short-lived adventure in B&H destroyed the small carrier, leaving it with significant debt. Since then, B&H has been on a downward spiral with its route network diminished, its fleet grounded on several occasions and its accounts blocked.

 

Serbian general arrested in Montenegro for war crimes in Croatia (Dalje)

Retired Serbian general Borislav Djukic, accused of war crimes against civilians in Croatia in the 1990s was arrested at Tivat's airport in Montenegro on Saturday, Serbian and Montenegrin media reported on Sunday. Serbian Radio-Television reported that Djukic, a Serbian citizen, was accused, as commander of the 21st brigade of the former Yugoslav army's 9th Knin corps, of destroying the Peruca dam. Also indicted are the corps commander, Ratko Mladic, Krajina army commander Mile Novakovic, and Krajina police commander Milan Korica. In 1993, detention was set for the three accused and a warrant was issued for their arrest. They are charged with war crimes against civilians committed in January 1993. According to the indictment, generals Mladic and Novakovic ordered Djukic and Korica on 28 January 1993 to set up large quantities of explosive to blow up the Peruca dam. About 30 tons of explosive was set up and the resulting explosion damaged the dam. The timely response of Croatia's HEP power utility prevented total flooding and the endangering of the lives of more than 50,000 residents of Sinj, Trilj and Omis. Djukic is on a Croatian State Prosecutor's Office list of those tried before Croatian courts for war crimes which was delivered to the Serbian Justice Ministry two years ago. An investigation into Djukic's group was launched in 1993 and an indictment was filed on 13 December 1995. Proceedings are under way at Split's County Court. Montenegrin media said police confirmed that Djukic, aged 66, was arrested at Tivat's airport on Saturday on his way to Belgrade. He was brought before a Podgorica High Court judge, who placed him in custody pending extradition.

 

INTERNATIONAL PRESS

 

Serbia PM Urges Dodik to Rethink Referendum (Balkan Insight, 18 July 2015)

Serbia's Prime Minister on Friday asked Milorad Dodik, President of Republika Srpska, to rethink the referendum on the authority of the state judiciary and the High Representative

After meeting Dodik in Belgrade, Aleksandar Vucic insisted that the planned referendum in Bosnia was an “internal issue”, and a “sovereign decision” of Republika Srpska. However, “I have asked them to rethink the decision,” the Serbian Prime Minister added, noting that he was “grateful” that Dodik had agreed to talk about the referendum. At a joint press conference with Vucic, Dodik said the Republika Srpska was ready to discuss its grievances about the Bosnian state judiciary and a referendum would not be required if the entity’s demands were accepted.

“If there is no deal, we will hold the referendum,” Dodik said. He said that everybody was aware that the Bosnian judiciary faced serious problems and that war crimes committed against Bosnian Serbs in the Nineties had never been prosecuted. The assembly of the Serb-dominated entity voted on Wednesday to hold a referendum on confidence in the country’s state justice system and on the authority of the international community’s High Representative. Of 76 deputies present on the chamber, 45 voted in favour of the referendum and 31 abstained. The referendum is scheduled for mid-September. Citizens of Bosnia’s mainly Serbian entity faced a loaded question: whether or not to support the “anti-constitutional and unauthorized laws imposed by the High Representative of the international community, especially the laws imposed relating to the Court and the Prosecutor's office of Bosnia and Herzegovina”. The move drew widespread condemnation. Western diplomats said the referendum was meaningless since Republika Srpska had no authority to challenge Bosnia’s state courts or the powers of the Office of the High Representative. Bosniak officials meanwhile said the referendum threatened an increasingly fragile peace in Bosnia. Vucic on Friday meanwhile said that he expected the Bosnian courts to prosecute those who had attacked him at Srebrenica on July 11, but he would not personally be filing criminal charges against them. "I believe that they [the authorities of Bosnia] will do what is legally required. I will not join the prosecution. May God forgive them for what they did," Vucic said. Dodik claimed that the attack in Srebrenica was an attempt to kill Vucic and was organized by people close to Bosniak member of the Bosnian presidency, Bakir Izetbegovic. Izetbegovic and other Bosniak politicians for their part have condemned the incident in which stones and water bottles were thrown at the Serbian leader in Srebrenica on July 11 as 136 victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre were being laid to rest on the 20th anniversary commemoration of the mass killing.

 

ISIS set up stronghold in Bosnia as terrorists secretly buy land (Sunday Mirror, 20 July 2015)

Islamic State have established a stronghold in mainland Europe, a Sunday Mirror investigation reveals terrorists are secretly buying land in an isolated village, surrounded by deep woodland.

Security services think the area in Bosnia is used for ISIS training camps and could be a base for devastating terror attacks on the West. Crucially, the location gives IS a key strategic position due to its proximity to the Mediterranean which is used by extremists from Syria, Iraq and North Africa. At least 12 ISIS fighters trained in the village of Osve have left for Syria in recent months and five are reported to be dead. Terror expert Dzevad Galijasevic said: “From this village a large number of people went to Syria and are going constantly. “The chosen location of some of the properties is on a hill, where there is no possibility to approach without being seen. It is clear that the source of the terrorist threat is right there. It is a major threat. “There is no one there who isn’t ready to respond to the summons to jihad.” We visited the hilltop village 60 miles from Sarajevo and six miles from the town of Maglaj afternoon. It is not mapped by GPS and is only accessible by steep and winding roads barely wide enough for cars to pass. A number of houses there appear to have been abandoned or only half built and it is not overlooked by any other settlement. A number of villagers wore Islamic-style clothing, including two women wearing burkas. Our guide – our driver and translator – said we were being watched and it was too dangerous to photograph them. Clearly worried, the dad-of-one said: “We should leave now – our presence here is beginning to cause suspicion. This is a beautiful place but is incredibly dangerous. “You cannot underestimate the possible threat here. If they see the camera all hell will break loose.” It is understood that notorious ISIS supporter Harun Mehicevic is among fanatics who bought land in the area. He has purchased two hectares. Mehicevic fled Bosnia during the 1990s Balkan wars and settled in Melbourne, Australia, where he is considered one of the country’s most dangerous men. In one ranting sermon, he reportedly told an audience of potential recruits: “Allah will help the mujahedeen (holy warriors) establish an Islamic State where Muslims can live with dignity and honor.” Other known terrorists believed to have bought land in the village include Jasin Rizvic and Osman Kekic, who are both now fighting with ISIS in Syria. Muslim leader Izet Hadzic – arrested by Bosnia’ and Herzegovina’s security service Sipa in a raid – is also understood to have property in the village, as have many others who have gone to fight in Syria and Iraq. One villager told our investigators that locals fear the area is a “nest for terrorists”. The man, who does not want to be named, said: “We regularly hear gunshots coming from the woods up there for long periods at a time. It happens every week. “I don’t know what they are doing, whether it is target practice or something like that, but it happens regularly. “It is really concerning to hear such notorious members of ISIS are buying land. They keep themselves to themselves but it is better not to ask questions. “It worries me that I am bringing up my children here. Now could be time to move out but it is not so easy to sell.” Bosnia is an ideal position for jihadis travelling illegally from Syria to Greece, via Turkey, and then through Macedonia and Serbia. Guns and other weapons are easier to obtain in Bosnia than in other parts of Europe due to illegal ownership following the conflicts of the 1990s. Five months ago, anti-terror cops raided the village of Gornja Maoca in the north of the country following reports of houses flying the ISIS flag. The area is home to followers of the strict Sunni Islam Wahhabi movement. It has been raided by police several times over the past decade due to suspected links with radical groups. A report on jihadism in Bosnia said: “Returning foreign fighters from Syria and Iraq – battle-hardened, skilled in handling arms and explosives, and ideologically radicalized – pose a direct threat not only to the security of Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also of the region and beyond.” The report, The Lure of the Syrian War: The Foreign Fighters’ Bosnian Contingent said that between 2013 and 2014, 156 Bosnian men and 36 women travelled to Syria, taking 25 children with them. The authors, Sarajevo University associate political science professor Vlado Azinovic and Islamic theologian Muhamed Jusic, also found that Bosnia was ill-prepared to deal with the threat. The report said: “There is a lack of co-ordination between local law-enforcement agencies on (foreign fighter) issues.” Kristina Jozic of security service Sipa said: “The return of individuals participating in the conflict in Syria, fighting with ISIS, is undoubtedly a security challenge and a threat, the extent of which is hard to determine.” She said: “Sipa continuously performs checks of all allegations that can be linked to terrorist activities in any way, whether that is financing, recruiting or other activities related to terrorism.” She added that the village is under surveillance following a police raid in May. Director of the Centre for Security Studies in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo, Armin Krzalic, said: “Bosnians who went to fight for Islamic State will be treated as a threat to security upon their return whether they have land here or not.”

 

Russo-Serbian Alliance Obstacle to West’s ‘Drang Nach Osten’ Plan (Sputnik, by Ekaterina Blinova, 17 July 2015)

Even Joseph Goebbels would be amazed by the effectiveness of the Western media monopoly in finding guilt with Serbs, Serbian Canadian journalist John Bosnitch told Sputnik, commenting on the UK’s attempt to push forward the resolution on Srebrenica in the UN Security Council.

The UK's effort to pass an anti-Serb "genocide" Resolution through the UN Security Council is a continuation of London's longstanding policy of trying to restrict the influence and status of Serbia in the Balkans and in Europe, according to John Bosnitch, a Belgrade-based journalist who is a 20-year veteran of the NHK Radio Japan English world service in Tokyo, and the Director of the Jasenovac Memorial Center in Belgrade. "London's aim is to label all Serbs as genocidal in order to undermine Serbs on several fronts. Firstly, Western-backed agents inside Bosnia have been trying to undermine the Dayton Accords that guarantee a roughly 50-50 split of power and territory between the Serbs on one side, and the Muslims and Croats on the other. However, Western-backed hardline Muslims seek a unitary state where they can dominate the Croats into forming an anti-Serb majority that would gradually dismantle the Bosnian Serb Republic in Bosnia as a "product of genocide" that must be dissolved," the journalist told Sputnik. "Secondly, Serbia is Russia's closest friend in Europe. London sees Serb-Russian friendship as an obstacle to the London-supported ‘drang nach osten' of the German Kaisers, of Hitler, and now of NATO. Just as Hitler had to delay his invasion of the Soviet Union to crush Yugoslavia, Anglo-American NATO delayed their aggression against the CIS (Commonwealth of Independent States) to subvert Serbia. But they made a major error in staging a coup in Ukraine before fully completing their colonization of Serbia into the EU. Now many Serbs have seen the truth in Ukraine and are opposed to joining NATO or the EU," he added.

Srebrenica Massacre: West's Goebbels-Style Narrative

The detailed research carried out by the Srebrenica Historical Project has demonstrated that the oft-stated death toll from Srebrenica of 8,000 is a massive fabrication, Bosnitch underscored, adding that that internationally respected intellectuals including US leftists Noam Chomsky and Edward Herman have publically rejected the genocide charge. "Even Joseph Goebbels would be amazed by the effectiveness of the Western media monopoly in finding guilt rather than credit with Gen. Mladic for having personally removed the women and children of Srebrenica from danger," the journalist remarked. John Bosnitch stressed that NATO officials were aware that Serb men would seek revenge for the slaughter of more than 3,000 Serb victims of attacks by Srebrenica-based Muslim extremist forces. "By ordering the Dutch UN forces ‘protecting' Srebrenica not to resist, and by refusing NATO airstrikes to stop a Serbian takeover, NATO purposefully set the stage for unlawful executions of easy-to-identify Muslim perpetrators of the crimes against Serb villagers around Srebrenica." However, if the truth comes up to surface that almost all of the several hundred executed Muslim victims were members of the "bloody 28th Division of the Muslim army" the Western narrative will fall apart at the seams. This fact has therefore been strictly banned from all Western-NATO media, he elaborated. "For the same reason, London never admits that it is fully aware that Arab jihadi murderers were airlifted into Bosnia by Washington; London never admits that many of today's ISIL members were NATO jihadi mercenaries in Bosnia; and London never admits its main strategic error: that by transplanting anti-Russian jihadis from Afghanistan into Bosnia, London itself was the greatest contributor to its own nightmare scenario of renewed strong ties between Serbs and Russians," Bosnitch stressed. "This Anglo-American error destroyed the results of London's support for Tito's dictatorship to pry Serbs and Russians apart," he added.

Maggie Thatcher's "Butcher of Belgrade"

According to John Bosnitch, the demonization of Serbia was a practice-effort for the demonization of Russia. When London failed to get very-Westernized Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic (who had worked as a banker in New York) to agree to the vivisection of the Serbian people across several ex-Yugoslav republics, nor to accept an Albanian extremist separation of Kosovo to join a NATO-puppet Greater Albania, they turned on Milosevic, the journalist explained. "Maggie Thatcher first demonized him personally as the "Butcher of Belgrade" and London subsequently labeled all Serbs as murderers and butchers.

This "demonization demonstration" against Yugoslavia was intended to frighten Russia into peacefully agreeing to the dismantling of the former Soviet Union into small pieces that NATO could grab one by one. The demonization of the Serbs was very similar to the double-atom-bombing of Japan: primarily aimed at scaring Russia," John Bosnitch told Sputnik.

However, when the Anglo-American empire failed to scare Russia, they tried to financially corrupt Yeltsin and his family, the journalist pointed out, stressing that the arrival of President Vladimir Putin eventually facilitated the revival of the Russian people and the state.

According to the journalist, the ultimate goal of all of this demonization, first of the Serbs and more recently of the Russians as well, has been to prepare the Western public for war — the method described as "two-minute hate" by George Orwell in his book "Nineteen Eighty-Four."

"My late father, Political Science Professor Dr. Sava Bosnitch, had a younger classmate from Poland in his Master of Arts (MA) degree class at McGill University in Montreal. That classmate was Zbigniew Brzezinski, who later became US President Jimmy Carter's national security advisor, inspirer of Solidarnosc, elector of the first Polish pope, mentor to Madeleine Albright, backer of al Qaeda and most recently, author of "The Grand Chessboard" a handbook for the end-game destruction of Russia. Despite their diametrically opposed views, the two men stayed in contact as Brzezinski demonstrated a near-rabid hatred of Russia and an extremist pro-Vatican orientation," John Bosnitch narrated. "I know from my father that his younger colleague Brzezinski is prone to making serious errors in calculation, such as his betrayal of the Shah of Iran for Ayatollah Khomeini in order to turn Muslims against Russia <…> a plan that backfired so badly that it drove President Carter from office," the journalist stressed. As demonstrated by Brzezinski and his subsequent disciples Albright Rice, Clinton, Kerry and Biden, the US geostrategists are "infected" with an extreme "Russophobia virus." Remarkably, this very fact makes their behavior predictable. That allowed Russia to outperform Washington in Syria and Crimea, the journalist emphasized.

Does NATO Continue What Hitler Started in 20th Century?

"Yes, the West's goal is to crush, dismember and destroy Russia as it did Yugoslavia," John Bosnitch noted, adding that although the West is still in a denial of the fact NATO continues what Adolf Hitler started more than half a century ago: "Since NATO and the EU are both virtual recreations of Hitler's unified imperial Europe, it is not surprising that they closely resemble that last effort at putting the continent under German management and control. The slaughter of Serbs has continued, and where the few Jewish survivors left alive in Europe have faced troops backed by NATO, they have once again been targeted as in the neo-Nazi slaughter of Jews and Russians in Odessa, Ukraine." While waging war in the Balkans, NATO used Bosnian and Albanian Islamists as its proxy forces against Serbs. Curiously enough, Nazi Germany had also been engaging Albanian and Bosnian Muslims, who served in the 21st Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Skanderbeg and the 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar, respectively. These divisions carried out all-out genocide of Serbian nationals in the Balkans. Unsurprisingly, Washington and NATO supported the Ukrainian coup of February 2014, conducted by the Ukrainian ultra-nationalists — "heirs" of OUN-UPA (Ukrainian Insurgent Army) and the 14th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS. "NATO is not only copying Nazi tactics, it is inspired by, admires and perpetuates them on purpose. It can do so without opposition because the people of the West have been denied any education in history. Thus the tiny ruling clique dominates by using their control of the present to control the past, and thus to control the future… building an entire society on the Orwellian principle of ‘Ignorance is Strength'," Bosnitch concluded.

 

Macedonia Deal Means Changes For Key Bodies (BIRN, by Sinisa Jakov Marusic, 20 July 2015)

State offices seen as crucial for the improvement of democratic standards are soon to undergo personnel changes and win more powers, as the first result of the agreement signed last week.

Personnel changes and a boost to the powers of several important state offices are on the table of the inter-party working groups monitored by Brussels, which started work at last week after the government and opposition on Wednesday agreed on the formation of an interim government and early elections to be held on April 24. Boosting the State Electoral Commission, the Anti-Corruption Commission, the Public Revenue Office, the regulatory Agency for Media as well as the Public Safety Bureau is expected to ensure free and fair elections next year and limit the space for political misuse during the period ahead. "We need to define concrete steps, legal changes and personnel solutions to improve the work of these bodies... For example, we need to boost the authority of the Electoral Commission so that it is paramount over the Interior Ministry, not the other way around," Petre Shilegov, the spokesperson for the opposition Social Democrats, said. He expects the work of the commissions to result in more opposition members and independent experts joining these state offices. The working groups are meeting under the guidance of the former Belgian MP and expert Peter Vanhoutte who has spent considerable time in Macedonia in the past few months, scanning areas in need of improvement. A senior member of the main ruling VMRO DPMNE party of Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that the groups have started working and that, "if all goes well, we should have most of our work done by the end of this month, so that we can resume implementing the agreed details after the August holidays". Last week, after marathon talks in Skopje, EU Enlargement Commissioner Johannes Hahn announced that a deal had been reached between Macedonia's warring political parties. The deal stipulates that the government under Gruevski "will submit its formal resignation to parliament in due time to allow the new government to be sworn in on 15 January 2016, 100 days before the parliament elections which shall be held on 24 April". Among other things, it envisages five new ministers and deputy ministers from the opposition being introduced in October, including the Interior Ministry, and the formation of a special autonomous prosecuting office by September 15, which will deal with the criminal allegations arising from accusations of illegal surveillance. The opposition accuses Gruevski, in power since 2006 of illegally orchestrating the surveillance of over 20,000 people and demanded that he and his government resign. Gruevski has insisted that compromising tapes of officials' conversations, which have been released in batches by the opposition Social Democrats since February, were “created” by unnamed foreign intelligence services and given to the opposition to destabilise the country. The tapes appeared to reveal the government's direct involvement in election fraud, abuse of the justice system and media and even suggest it covered up the murder of a young man by a police officer.

 

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