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Post by s vugrek on Aug 29, 2004 20:44:25 GMT 1
DUBROVNIK :Dubrovnik is one of the oldest and most beautiful Mediterranean towns. Because of its beauty, state of preservation and centuries-old tradition it was placed on the UNESCO Register of World Cultural Heritage in 1979. Now, after the war imposed in 1991 on the Republic of Croatia by the Yugoslav Army, Dubrovnik is heavily damaged and seriously endangered in its very foundations. Never in its history has Dubrovnik been devastated by man; the only destruction it suffered before 1991 was caused by earthquakes. From its very beginnings Dubrovnik was a town: it was controlled by human intelligence and creativeness. According to the latest archival findings, Dubrovnik was founded long before the 7th century AD. Its inhabitants painstakingly reclaimed land from the sea and showed great wisdom and a natural sense for dialogue in organizing their living space. Dubrovnik was a commercial and naval power whose ships sailed to all parts of the globe. With its diplomacy and strong walls it succeeded in preserving its autonomy and freedom as the Republic of Dubrovnik during many centuries, when the rest of Croatia formed part of other states. Dubrovnik's medieval urban structure developed in keeping with regulations spelled out in a Statute passed in 1272; the city prides itself on numerous architectural monuments dating from various periods, the predominating being Gothic and Renaissance architecture from its golden age, the 15th and 16th centuries. There are also many Baroque buildings as well as remnants from earlier periods. Dubrovnik is a treasure trove of painting, sculpture and applied art, as well as of written documents, kept in the Dubrovnik State Archive, one of the best known in the world. Dubrovnik is one of the best-known tourist destinations in the world; one of its attractions is the Dubrovnik Summer Festival. In the aggression on the Municipality of Dubrovnik many people have been killed, the areas of Konavle, Zupa dubrovacka, Rijeka dubrovacka and Dubrovacko primorje have been totally destroyed; over 19,600 persons have been made homeless, the economy of the area has been ruined and 53 per cent of the total area of the Municipality is still occupied by the enemy.
75 per cent of the industrial facilities have been destroyed or damaged, agricultural production has been brought to a complete halt, 90 per cent of the building industry and 40 per cent of all shops have been either destroyed or looted, 60 per cent of the hotels have been damaged or totally destroyed; the communications infrastructure (the airport, the harbour, roads, post offices and telecommunications) has been rendered inoperative; 2,500 family houses and farm buildings have been burnt down, 5,500 buildings have been damaged, many of them seriously; the property in the occupied areas has been largely looted.
According to the estimates based on the available data, the damage inflicted on the Dubrovnik Municipality so far amounts to 2,000,000,000 US$.
Dubrovnik itself is not occupied but it is encircled by the enemy.
It was attacked three times: the first bombing raid was carried out on the 23rd and 24th October 1991, the second between the 8th and 13th November 1991 and the third on the 6th December 1991.
The third attack was aimed at destroying the historic core of the city: the old city of Dubrovnik. It lasted full 12 hours, during which time over 2,000 missiles were fired at the city within the walls and at its immediate surroundings: grenades, shells and guided missiles. The bombing started many fires in the city, missiles exploded on 700 sites and hit 400 sites without exploding. Stradun alone suffered 43 direct hits.It has so far not been possible to inspect or estimate the full extent of the damage. The Dubrovnik region is still occupied by the enemy and is inaccessible to expert commissions, so that the report of the Dubrovnik Institute for the Protection of Monuments, published in seven volumes, covers only the damage to the historical nucleus and its immediate surroundings. The report does not include the damage to the municipal infrastructure, the fortifications, and the interiors, nor an analysis of the damaged structural elements of houses. The damage to mobile art objects - invaluable paintings, books and other art objects - has not been included either. The report on the extent of the damage to Dubrovnik led to the decision in Carthage at the end of 1991 to place the city on the UNESCO Register of Endangered World Cultural Heritage. The preliminary damage estimate, prepared by the Institute for the Reconstruction of Dubrovnik while the war operations were still in progress, on the basis of some, but by no means all the elements, provides only an approximate idea of the future reconstruction costs. When the damage that has not been estimated yet is added to the already estimated one, the cost of reconstructing Dubrovnik from the destruction inflicted on it during the 1991 war will be enormous. The extent of the damage and the professional and organizational problems its repair will involve have prompted the City of Dubrovnik and the Republic of Croatia to call on the international cultural community for help. Many foreign experts are already in the city, which is still encircled, endangered on all sides by the enemy, deprived of the natural links with its hinterland and the rest of Croatia. Dubrovnik and the Republic of Croatia know that reconstruction will take a long time; they are aware that it will depend on their labour and their determination to preserve the life and traditions of Dubrovnik; they know that the renewal will be carried by the creative power of the people, who are going to rebuild the city and the whole Dubrovnik area with their hands and hearts as our ancestors did in the past (note by E. Sehovic: this picture shows the ruins of the Inter-University Center building, which had been reconstructed already). You too can contribute to our efforts. Join us! You can help Dubrovnik restore its beauty. We will appreciate your concern and your contribution. We would like to have with us all those who believe that the world heritage shows the road to the future of civilization and to the cultural horizon of the old continent - Europe. Pero Poljanic Lord Mayor of Dubrovnik ( 1992 ) www.hr/darko/dubrovnik/pics/Zvon-war.GIF [/img] www.hr/darko/dubrovnik/pics/Kuca-war.GIF [/img] www.hr/darko/dubrovnik/pics/Iuc-war.GIF [/img] That is about ethnic cleansing, but I guess you will not have any comments on this as usual.
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Post by s vugrek on Aug 29, 2004 21:03:09 GMT 1
hahaha, Airma, what is wrong now? We have been just discussing 'something', but that is okay, I hope you won't accuse me of making those pics of Dubrovnik in Photoshop or something lol I understand that you can't stand it, because this truth hurts a lot. And yes, at that war time I was watching Croatian TV as well as many foreign channels about reports on Serbian aggression on my country. Whether you believe it or not, they were showing the same pictures and scenes, and were shocked too by bestial 'behaviour' of Serbs and their alies from Montenegro. Now should i add some pics of Vukovar and other places, or maybe some clips-movies that show everything you consider lies ? hmm ?
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Post by Airma on Aug 29, 2004 21:56:45 GMT 1
Listen, Stop posting stupid articles which are not the truth. Do you know how many buildings in Dubrovnik croats attacked and destroyed in which they belived JNA was in or at least had some of its remaint and then said that it was the serbs who attacked those buildings??? I know this must be hard for you to hear,, but after all truth liberates.... No, you dont have to post pictures of Vukovar, but if you would be so kind, could you post some pictures of serb orthodox churches and homes in ruins? Or how about thousands of serb refugees fleeing for their lives in Krajina, ooo wait you cant,,, croat bomber planes already got rid of them!!! Ahh what can you do? YOU SAID they were showing the same pictures and scenes, and were shocked too by bestial 'behaviour' of Serbs and their alies from Montenegro. I SAY Haha,, croats talking about others doing bestial behaviour!! ;D ;D ;D Help! I cant stop laughing! YOU SAID I hope you won't accuse me of making those pics of Dubrovnik in Photoshop or something lol I SAY Haha, that is funny! See ya latter man,, and dont let the truth bug you to much! You will get over it!
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Post by Airma on Aug 29, 2004 22:00:37 GMT 1
Croatian authorities, far from the eyes of the world public, have initiated in mid 1991 and have continued to this day their ethnic cleansing of the Republic of Croatia from ethnic Serb population, so the largest part of territories controlled by these authorities may be considered as ethnically cleansed by now. This ethnic cleansing was first conducted in larger urban areas and in those countryside areas which were inhabited by ethnic Serbs for centuries and where ethnic Serbs constituted the majority, while ethnic Croats were a minority or only a relative majority. Later on, areas in which ethnic Serbs were a minority already were subjected to the same procedures. In spite of trying, Croatian authorities could not succeed with their ethnic cleansing only on those territories which subsequently became parts of the Republic of Serbian Krayina.
The true proportions of ethnic cleansing in the Republic of Croatia will be possible to determine only if the world community forces the Croatian authorities to conduct a census under international supervision on territories they control and if they permit investigations on harassment and expulsions of ethnic Serbs to take place on those territories. Such investigations, which would include representatives from organizations dealing with human rights and representatives of both sides in conflict, should be conducted in all places where there is founded doubt that ethnic cleansing took place, since this is the only way to fully expose the unacceptable practice of harassing members of other ethnic groups, which cannot be reconciled with Christian morality and is punishable by the Convention on Preventing and Prosecuting Crimes of Genocide, adopted on the session of the UN General Assembly on December 9, 1948 in Geneva.
This report deals with ethnic cleansing in western Slavonia because that was the first area of ex-Yugoslav territory where this practice was begun and was almost completed, including harand totally brutal ethnic cleansing. The success achieved by the Croatian authorities in using violence and feeling of insecurity in ethnic Serbs to ethnically cleanse one of their strategic and economically speaking most important territories has encouraged, and continues to encourage, all those who use the same practices in other ethnically mixed regions of old Yugoslavia. The procedures of ethnic cleansing in western Slavonia was reconstructed on basis of written documents, gathered statistical data, polls taken among victims of ethnic cleansing and written statements of witnesses of individual crimes.
According to data as of August 15, 1992, and regarding western Slavonia, 10 city and 183 countryside settlements have been completely ethnically cleansed of ethnic Serbs, while a further 87 settlements have partially been ethnically cleansed. New data, gathered on a daily basis by associates of the Serbian Council Information Center, indicates that the number of totally and partially ethnically cleansed settlements will soon be much larger, since Croatian authorities are far from halting the harassment of ethnic Serbs on territories they control, and on territories under the protection of UNPROFOR, but subject to the Croatian legal system. We already have data, albeit in raw form as yet, on several tens of settlements where ethnic Serbs were a majority or were ethnically mixed, for which it will soon be reliably known whether they have been completely or only partially ethnically cleansed.
During the first months of 1991, and until this day, complete ethnic cleansing was affected in almost all ethnic Serb majority settlement on the rim of the mountains of Papuk, Psunj, Dilja and Bilogora, all places where ethnic Croats until this time remained in express minority. By means of ethnic cleansing of western Slavonia, from Osijek and Vinkovci in the east to the river Ilova on the west, all of Slavonia has now become an almost ethnically pure Croat territory. This has to a large extent been the culmination of a grand project to create an ethnically pure Croat state in which, as formulated by the Croat state project from XIX century, there is no place for ethnic Serbian, orthodox population. For it to be completely realized, in preparation is the final stage of ethnic cleatization of Western Slavonia: certain ethnically completely cleansed but little damaged ethnic Serb settlements are being settled these days by ethnic Croats from Janjevci (Kosovo and Metohija, Republic of Serbia). Several hundred of them, who sold out their properties on Kosovo or have left it to family member use, have already settled in Miokovicevo, Katinac, Nova Krivaja and Puklica, recently ethnic Serb settlements. In Zagreb, there are plans to use financial aid from Europe to construct refugee settlements on the remains of what were once ethnic Serb settlements.
Croatian authorities were not satisfied to simply drive ethnic Serbs from their homesteads, but went to, as much as it was possible, to remove all traces of their centuries long life and cultural existence in those areas - most churches and other religious buildings belonging to the Serbian Orthodox Church, including the cathedral and episcopal court in Pakrac, were looted and either heavily damaged or completely leveled. Almost all priests of the Serbian Orthodox Church were driven off, while parochial homes were mostly mined. Because of this, all religious life of ethnic Serbs has been inhibited to the point where even the deceased cannot be buried as Orthodox Christians. There are records of harassing the relatives and all too rare Orthodox priests who remained during religious ceremonies during burials of deceased ethnic Serbs. For example, on May 9, 1992 in Podravska Slatina, members of the Croatian National Guard threatened the local Orthodox priest during the burial ceremony by saying: "Sing, sing, you won't for long". Murdered ethnic Serbs are, as a rule, buried by Croatian authorities without the presence of any relatives and in unmarked graves. The bells of even the small number of remaining Orthodox churches are now completely dumb.
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Post by Airma on Aug 29, 2004 22:02:20 GMT 1
Zagreb, Croatia. The government of Croatia has forced thousands of its enemies from their homes and from the country, according to the new Zagreb office of the human rights organization of Helsinki Watch.
The actions have been directed mostly against Serbs, who once constituted a sizable minority in Croatia, but also against CROATS opposed to the rule of President Franjo Tudjman, said Ivan Zvonimir Cicak, who heads Helsinki watch of Croatia.
"SINCE 1991, THE CROATIAN AUTHORITIES HAVE BLOWN UP OR RAZED 10,000 (TEN THOUSAND!) HOUSES, MOSTLY OF SERBS, BUT ALSO HOUSES OF CROATS," Mr. Cicak, who is cataloguing the abuses, said in an interview. "IN SOME CASES THEY DINAMITED HOMES WITH THE FAMILIES INSIDE. WHOLE FAMILIES WERE KILLED. Many were vounded."
[...]
...Mr. Cicak said one of the Croats who lost his home was Ante Semjar, "a writer who is a member of the PEN club." He added: "He had a big house on the island of Pag. They blew it up because he had criticized the regime."
In September a building in the coastal city of Split where Croatian dissidents planned to publish an independent newspaper called Dalmatinske Novine (Dalmatian Newspaper) was destroyed "with 100 kilograms (200+ pounds) of dynamite," Mr. Cicak said.
He said the Tudjman Government, in a statement by Foreign Minister mate Granic in May, had acknowledged the destruction of "7,000 houses" of Croatian Serbs. So far, the justice authorities have investigated about 100 (hundred) cases of dynamiting, "but there have been no prosecutions," he said.
ALTOGETHER ABOUT 280,000 (TWO HUNDRED AND EIGHTY THOUSAND) CROATIAN SERBS HAVE FLED THE COUNTRY as the result of the dynamite campaign and other measures...
(End quote)
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It difficult to grasp the enormity of the ethnic cleansing that the Nazi-Croats have done! If Nazi-Croats have dynamited ten thousand houses, and there are, roughly hundred times less Croats than Americans - it would be equivalent to someone, in America, blowing up ONE *MILLION* HOUSES! (Even Janet Reno could not dream of that level of Nazism.)
The article says that Tudjman's "justice authorities" investigated 100 cases. (ONE PERCENT of the total number!). Is this the democracy that the Serbs, the indigenous people and majority people on some 1/3 of Communist Tito-created Croatia had to accept?
One should ask - if 10,000 houses were dynamited - how many tons of dynamite is needed to do the job? Is that not clear that President Tudjman himself ordered the ethnic cleansing.
Note that by expelling 280,000 Serbs THE NAZI CROATS PRACTICALLY EXPELLED *ALL* SERBS THAT THEY HAD UNDER THEIR CONTROL AS EARLY AS 1993! Today, Croatia is the most ethnically pure state in Europe.
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Post by Airma on Aug 29, 2004 22:04:50 GMT 1
On Thursday, September 9, 1993, Croatian Army made sudden unprovoked attack on the Serbian villages in "Medak pocket" region. The whole region, the farthest West part of Krajina Military Frontier, was Serb majority populated for at least four centuries. During WWII, at the time of existence of Hitler supported puppet Independent State of Croatia, the Medak and surrounding villages as well as nearby town of Gospic was especially hard hit by Croat fascist - Ustashi bestialities. In the small mountain village of Medak itself 861 Serbs, men, women and children were slaughtered.
Weary of the horrors of the past that did not leave one single family without casualties, Krajina Serbs fought bitterly not to be at mercy of yet another Independent State of Croatia. At the moment when resurrected Ustashi elements took over the government in Croatia and declared that they will follow their WWII chauvinist model and declare secession from Yugoslavia, Krajina people declared loyalty to the federation. With some help from the Yugoslav Federal Army the region remained under loyalist control.
In comes "International Community" which after collapse of the Soviet Union got to be under full control from Washington. They recognized Croatian independence in borders designed by Croatian Communist dictator Tito. This meant that Serbian right to exist let alone to exercise their right to control their destiny, their UN declared right for self-determination was denied.
But the Serbs were not to let the weapons down. Washington sends its diplomat Cyrus Vance to bring "peace" to the region. The plan is to fool the Serbs that America seeks non-violent, negotiated solution to the war. America needs time to equip and train its Nazi Croat proxies.
Medak and surrounding Serb villages found themselves in a pocket. The surrounding areas as well as nearby town of Gospic were already cleansed of the Serbs (and the "International Community" did not allow rare fools to try to come to their homes and property). "Medak pocket" got to be a peninsula, surrounded on three sides by Ustashi Croat territory.
The Croat attack on Medak was a test of just what the American master will tolerate. It proved that they will tolerate everything. The model of Ustashi bestiality followed by American silence will then be repeated in Western Slavonia (UNPROFOR sector "West") in May 1995, Western Krajina (UNPROFOR sectors "North" and "South" in August 1995) when entire, huge regions were cleansed of the indigenous Serb population.
The last to go was Eastern Slavonia (UNPROFOR sector "East") which was "demilitarized" (read: the Serbs were disarmed) by America and then given to the control of the Croat fascists in January 1998.
In many different aspects the case of Medak pocket slaughter is educational at least for the reason that it happened very early in the conflict before Western media succeeded to satanize one whole people through its "mass rape", "besieged Sarajevo", "concentration camps", "Srebrenica mass graves" and other Big Lie campaigns.
Medak pocket massacres prove full complicity of the Inter-Nazi-onal Community in the genocide perpetrated on the Serbian people. Medak pocket, since February 1992, was to be protected by UNPROFOR (United Nation Protection Force).
In early morning hours Croat Army shelled and then made all out attack, at the Serb villages. They were supported by tanks...
UNPROFOR stayed uninvolved. This is what they have found when they entered the disaster zone:
General Jean Cot: "I have found no sign of human or animal life in the several villages we passed today. The destruction is total, systematic and deliberate." UNPROFOR Press Release, September 19, 1993, Zagreb.
Lt. Colonel Jim Kevin (according to Reuters): "UN high officers assessed Croatian soldiers had been ordered by highest command to tear down those villages. This could have been ordered by high ranking generals only."
Ivanka Rajcevic, survivor: "The Ustashi said 'This is a Serbian village, turn it into a slaughterhouse. Slaughter everybody!.'"
Dr. Zeljko Karan, spet of forensic medicine examines mutilated bodies and writes a report.
"Blood suffusions and contusions were caused by strokes of a dull mechanical tool. [The victims] were then thrust into a fire while still alive. Many had stab wounds... It is not necessary to comment how the imprisoned were treated... The UNPROFOR representatives were present at the identification process and forensic treatment, especially at the most illustrative cases."
Partial list of victims (74 bodies brought for identification).
A few photographs of the victims.
Ustashi WWII unfinished job of genocide over the Serbs is finally done.
Western media finds a way to blame the Serbs while keeping silent about the slaughter. Not ONE Croat was called responsible for the massacre. There was NO pressure on Croatia not to repeat the experiment.
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Post by s vugrek on Aug 29, 2004 23:20:43 GMT 1
None of these articles say truth, lies lies lies, endless lies. I am sorry you cant accept the fact Croatia is today finally an independent country that survived the worst ethic cleansing in Europe ever seen since the WWII. You occupied around 1/3 of the Croatian territory withing borders of Croatia, you wanted to adopt it to Serbia and make greater Serbia, but it obviously didnt work out for you guys, btw, all regions in Cro that you mentioned in your articles were 'free of Croats and other non-Serb minorities' after Serbs took over them, so those regions 'belonged' to that 1/3 of the occupied territory, so you are being caught lying again, just go ahead If you just look back at all of your articles you will pretty easily find out that there are too many non-sense and contradictor stories that even a six years old kid would notice. The more articles you paste here, the chances are bigger that you will find yourself trapped in lies..again, again and again. If I were you, I would stop embarass myself p.s. As you can see I am not a nationalist, just an ordinary Croat who witnessed everything that was going on as did the rest of the world, so therefore i am not gonna let some Serbian provoker to keep spreading lies based on the Greater Serb ideology. Now that Crime in Medacki Dep I never tried to hide, I openly admitted it in one of my past messages, while (again) you deny everything, so (again) you seem to be the only pretending like you dont have a clue(?)
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Post by Lara T on Aug 29, 2004 23:39:35 GMT 1
I am very surprised that everyone seems to be copy and pasting various articles and passages without even mentioning the source. Although it's easy to find where they're taken from, anyway. Surely the source websites say a lot about to which way the content will lean towards. If this were homework, you guys would get a telling off for poor referencing.
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Post by svugrek on Aug 29, 2004 23:42:33 GMT 1
How the War Started by Alan F. Fogelquist, Dept. of History, UCLA
Too many people in the U.S. are now shouting out their general disapproval for U.S. President Bill Clinton by attacking the NATO mission in Bosnia-Herzogovina. They have a right to their opinion, but I'm afraid they are more influenced by right-wing and consertative media and radio hosts than a throughtful analysis of the true flaws of the agreement and mission, or the culpability and responsibility of the Western nations and in particular, the United Nations Security Council has in the present state of the conflict.
I think that it's useful to have a simple overview of how this war was started so that the debate include an understanding of the facist forces that began the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Without this basic knowledge, it is impossible to argue whether the U.S. brokered partition plan is good for the People or not.
Here is an essay from Alan Fogelquist's book, The Break-up of Yugoslavia, published in 1993. For more information on this book, call the Lasiewicz Foundation at 213/668-1811, Los Angeles, CA. If you are involved in other internet discussion boards, please feel free to share this posting.
"The current war in Bosnia-Herzogovina is essentially a war of aggression from the outside, even though it has internal ethnic dimensions. The conflict is a continuation of the war of aggression against Slovenia and Croatia, which temporarily subsided in those countries, (but has reignited in Croatia. in 1995). If the Serbian war machine is not stopped, the war can only spread to new areas and is likely to result in a confrontation of continental proportions. In the meantime, Milosevic's allies in Bosnia have been carrying out step-by-step destruction of most of the country. In the name of protecting Serbs, no one has done more to endanger the lives of innocent Serbian people than Milosevic and his political allies. If inter-communal violence and 'ethnic hatred' have emerged in what was once regarded as a model multi-ethnic or multi-national federation, it is an ethnic violence Milosevic and the federal army have manufactured, stimulated, and perpetuated in their last-ditch effort to hold power in an era of democratic and nationalist revolutions. It was his chauvinistic policies which culminated in the arbitrary abolition in March 1989 of the autonomous status of the provinces of both Kosovo and Vojvodina which had been guarenteed by the Federal Constitution of the Yugoslav Federation.
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Post by svugrek on Aug 29, 2004 23:43:35 GMT 1
ELECTIONS AND INDEPENDENCE. In March and April of 1990, Slovenia and Croatia held their first multi-party elections in almost fifty years. The Communist reformers lost the elections to parties favoring national sovereignty within a reorganized Yugoslav confederation. In November and early December 1990, similar non-Communist democratic nationalist coalitions emerged victorious in multi-party elections in Macedonia and Bosnia-Hercegovina as well. Throughout the first half of 1991, Bosnia's Muslim president Alija Izetbegovic and Macedonia's president Kiro Gligorov desperately sought to find a democratic solution which would allow the Slovenians and Croatians to remain within a decentralized and reorganized union of sovereign Yugoslav states but announced their desire to leave the Yugoslav federation should the Slovenes and Croats refuse to remain. Izetbegovic and Gligorov feared that if the Croatians and Slovenians left, Bosnia and Macedonia would be left to the mercy of Milosevic and other intransigent Serbian leaders. Milosevic and the federal military leadership flatly rejected joint Slovenian and Croatian proposals for a looser federation or union of sovereign Yugoslav states. Serbian leaders appointed puppet representatives to the presidency from the no-longer existent autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina whose automy had already been arbitrarily and unconstitutionally abolished by the Serbian parliament. The last straw for the Slovenians and Croatians came when the Serbs and Montenegrins, together with these bogus representatives of no longer existent Kosovo and Vojvodina, blocked the confirmation of the very moderate, rational, and conciliatory Croatian Stipe Mesic as chairman of the federal presidency. According to the post-Tito constitutional arrangement, the chairmenship of the federal presidency, the highest executive body in the country, was to pass each year to the representative of a different republic who was to be chosed by his republic's parliament. It was Croatia's turn to select the federal president and Stipe Mesic was the first non-Communist ever to be nominated to head the federal presidency. The Croatians responded to Serbian stonewalling and provocations with a plebiscite in which the vast majority voted to authorize the Croatian parliment, 'Sabor' to declare independence at the end of June 1991 in the event that the coming weeks' negotiations proved futile.
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Post by svugrek on Aug 29, 2004 23:45:08 GMT 1
CONSTITUTION AND CIVIL LIBERTIES In December 1990, the Croatian parliament, or Sabor, passed a democratic constitution which guarantees the civil liberties of all of its citizens and provides for cultural and educational autonomy for the Serbs and other national minorities in Croatia. Under this constitution, Serbs and representatives of smaller minorities are given the right to have their own schools and to use their own language and alphabet as the official language and alphabet of districts where they form a majority. In May 1992, urged by the United Nations and European community, the Croatian government went even further, passing a law guaranteeing self-government and political autonomy to districts where Serbs make up a majority of the population. Because of these conciliatory measures taken by the Croatian government, it seems clear that the legitimate goals and concerns of the Serbian minority could have been addressed through negotiation and comprimise, and that there was no need whatsoever for an armed rebellion.
INSURGENTS IN CROATIA. In the fall and winter of 1990, Serbian insurgents centered in Knin organized autonomous districts with their own army and police forces in the Krajina. During the spring of 1991, while negotiations were taking place between the republican governments over the future of Yugoslavia, armed guerrillas and agitators, with help from Milosevic, "Yugoslav" army leaders, and Serbian officials, infiltrated village after village, town after town and district after district in the Serbian populated areas of Croatia. These agitators brought large quantities of weapons provided by the Serbian police, the federal army, and state weapons factories and literally thrust them upon the Serbian villagers in these areas. The Yugoslav federal army, led by an officer corps that was eighty percent Serbian, then entered the rebellious districts under the pretext of preventing ethnic violence. Long before the Croatians made their final and irrevocable declaration of independence from Yugoslavia, the "federal" army had completed the occupation of as much as one quarter of Croatian territory.
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Post by svugrek on Aug 29, 2004 23:46:30 GMT 1
RECOGNITION. Despite all the evidence, the American, British, and French governments continued to harbor the notion that a unified Yugoslavia had to be preserved and that Croatia and Slovenia should be pressured into remaining in the Yugoslav federation. Ignoring the months of fruitless negotiotions deliberately sabotoged by the Serbian and federal army leadership, in the final week before the Slovenian and Croatian independence proclamations, American Secretary of State James Baker and Under Secretary Lawrence Eagleburger publicly opposed the Croatians' and Slovenians' moves towards independence. The German government, which ahd followed event much more closely and carefully, rightly advocate immediate recognition of the independence of Croatia and Slovenia and an unambiguous policy against Serbian or "federal" military intervention to prevent the indepence of these republics. Had the Germans been heeded, much bloodshed probably could have been prevented. At times European and American diplomats seemed strangely oblivious of the human suffering caused by Milosevic's war of aggression.
SEIZURE AND DESTRUCTION OF TERRITORY. In the course of their war against Croatia, Serbian and "federal" armed forces not merely entered Serbian-populated areas to "protect" Serbs but seized wide stretches of territory where Croatians formed an overwhelming majority. In such regions, they embarked on a systematic effort to terrorize and expel the Croatian population. This has been well documented by international human rights organizations. The same pattern was introduced simultaneously in Vojvodina against local Hungarians, Croatians, and other non-Serbs. Whole sections of Croatia and now Bosnia have been converted into a wasteland of rubble and charred rafters. Factories and buildings, capital accumulated through decades of toil and investment, have been totally destroyed. Hundreds of Serbian civilians have been killed by the indiscriminate bombardment of villages of mixed nationality and cities like Vukovar and Sarajevo, where a substantial part of the population is Serbian. Hundreds of naive Serbian army recruits have also been killed in the senseless and wanton assaults on Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina. The destruction and killing perpetrated first against innocent Croats and Bosnian as well as Serbs by the Serbian and "federal" forces has been, nevertheless, of a far greater magnitude and is the result of conscious governmentally sponsored policy rather than spontaneous outbursts of "ethnic hatred."
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Post by svugrek on Aug 29, 2004 23:48:32 GMT 1
PEACE ATTEMPTS. For a short while in the first months of 1992, it appeared that the Yugoslav crises might, indeed, finally be settled peacefully. Representatives of the European Community and later the United Nations had spent many months trying to find a solution acceptable to Milosevic. Cyrus Vance, the chief United Nations negotiator, after months of foot dragging by Milosevic and the federal army, appeared to have convinced the Serbian and "federal" military leadership to agree to withdraw federal forces from Croatia. But peace was not to be, and what followed cast grave doubt that Milosevic and the federal military leadership had any intention of respecting UN or European Community-sponsored agreements. After considerable delay, the United Nations sent peace-keeping forces into the designated areas of Croatia, but none to Bosnia. The "Federal" and Serbian military and civilian leaders have blocked the repatriation of thousands of Croatians who were driven out of their homes and are claiming the right to determine which Croatians will be allowed into the areas they control. The federal army handed much of its heavy weaponry over to local Serbian militias in Croatia, who have put on the uniforms of local police forces allowed by the peace agreement. Efforts by UNPROFOR to collect weapons from Serbian forces in Croatia have been ineffectual and are hopelessly behind schedule. Because of the UN failure, the Croatian government has now launched military action to reestablish control over part of the occupied areas. The United Nations has been unsuccessful in overseeing the return of any but a small handful of Croatian refugees all of whom face dangerous and uncertain conditions. In the meantime the Belgrade regime and its allies in Bosnia-Hercegovina have launched a new war of aggression.
THE WAR IN BOSNIA. Hundreds of thousands of Muslims and Croats were driven from their homes by the Serbian forces in a deliberate campaign of territorial conquest and ethnic purification. At the last count, the number of refugees from the Serbian war of destruction and extermination in Bosnia was approaching two million. [note: updated to 3.5 million by October 1995.] The "federal" military in Bosnia joined the fight on the side of the Serbian new-fascist legions and added its weaponry for the step-by-step destruction of Sarajevo. Whenever Bosnians and Croatians have been able to organize defense forces to resist the Serbian attacks, the systematic mass killing and ethnic cleansing of these two peoples have been prevented. In areas where the Bosnians handed over their weapons to the Yugoslav army or Serbian militias, the local non-Serbian population have been totally defenseless and has suffered mass atrocities. Areas which were well defended by local Bosnian Muslim and Croatian militias were spared this fate. Bosnian Muslim and Croatian forces have generally defended only areas where members of these nationalities are in a majority. They have not engaged in systematic ehtnic cleansing, and their actions have been largely defensive.
RESPONSE OF THE WORLD TO AGGRESSION. The response of the United States and Western European governments, Russia, United Nations officialdom and the European Community to what is clearly a Serbian-Montenegrin or "Yugoslav" war of aggression against the now internationally recognized independent and sovereign nations of Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina has been irresponsible with appallingly destructive consequences. The United States, France, England and Russia failed to intervene in an effective and constructive way to mediate a democratic and peaceful disassociation of former Yugoslav republics from the Yugoslav federation after its viability had been destroyed by a series of arbitray actions of Milosevic's Serbian government and the Serbian-dominated federal army leadership. The United States, France and England - by initially publicly opposing the democratic decision of the Slovenian and Croatian peoples when they declared independence after months of Serbian and Montenegrin sabataged negotiations - gave the "Yugoslav" military an open invitation to intervene militarily to prevent the independence of these republics and to seize territory for Greater Serbia alias Yugoslavvia. By imposing an arms embargo on all of former Yugoslavia by Resolution 713 on September 25, 1991, the United Nations Security Council effectively granted a monopoly on heavy weaponry and air power to the aggressors in the conflict, the "Yugoslav National Army" and the various Serbian and Montenegrin paramilitary forces supported by the army leadership.
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Post by Airma on Aug 30, 2004 0:41:50 GMT 1
I didnt even bother reading the articles. So much lies that it begins to pollute the brain. Only thing I read was about Bosnia. Its obviusly all bull , because if you knew anything you would know that milosevic signed a treaty with both Tudman and Izb, on how to divide bosnia however the amercans wanted to prolong the war and make sure it began a huge conflict so they convinced Izb. pull out. America and Germany were dieing to have Yuga separted. And are still funding islamic fundametalists in Bosnia. Do you know how many serbs were slaughtered by the muslims even before the JNA statred heavily striking?? THOUSANDS expept no one seems to know about this since western media was to busy vicitimizing the croats and muslims while making serbia seem like the aggresor. Svugrek Said "I am sorry you cant accept the fact Croatia is today finally an independent country that survived the worst ethic cleansing in Europe ever seen since the WWII" Croatian survided ethnic cleansing!!!!! ? Haha thats the funniest thing I have ever heard! Croatia is the one who caused the most ethnic cleansing in the war and is today the most ethnically pure country in EUROPE! Svugrek Said "If you just look back at all of your articles you will pretty easily find out that there are too many non-sense and contradictor stories that even a six years old kid would notice" Your a funny guy,, take a look at yours. Svugrek "p.s. As you can see I am not a nationalist, just an ordinary Croat who witnessed everything that was going on as did the rest of the world, so therefore i am not gonna let some Serbian provoker to keep spreading lies based on the Greater Serb ideology" I SAY No you are not a nationlist, and nether am I. I have seen many croatian nationalists (even serb) to which I was disgusted by them and their posts. Svugrek I trully wish you could know the truth and get out of that propaganda way of thinking you have, but you have your right to your opinion...to bad its based on lies and misconception. Who are you to call me a serbian provoker? What does that even mean? And about me belibeing in greater serbia?? You dont know me and what I belive in. Svugrek as much as I have disagreed at your ridicluous and propagandic post I have never insulted you or said anything against you personnaly. So please dont call me a "provoker" This is going nowhere... Obviously you cant handle the truth so you call everything I say a lie.. And I obviously regard 95% of what you say as complete lies. You are not going to convert me to your thinking nor will I ever convert to your way of thinking. IF you want to know the truth go to some real websites that arent full of propaganda but truth I am not going to fight with you and I am not goiing to post anything anymore. If you want to know the real truth than go here www.srpska-mreza.com/library/facts/preface.htmlPS- It may be propaganda to you, but in the end you just cant handle the truth Cheers
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Post by Airma on Aug 30, 2004 0:49:11 GMT 1
BTW - If you actually knew anything about the war you would know that America and Germany wanted Yugoslavia to split and were dieing for a war to begin. Even most croats know that.
Just goes to show how much you really know about the war svugrek....
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