@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Bosnia Update -- 13 September 95 * * * The timing was eerie of "cj#259> Editorial: Bosnian Prospects". It seems that many of the predictions came true within a just few days or hours of its publication. The primary thesis of the editorial was that the U.S./German/Nato operation in the Balkans was being carried out as an upgraded version of the Desert Storm campaign. Several parallels were noted, and the predictions were simply exptrapolations based on the earlier precedent. What we've seen subsequently are even closer parallels to Desert Storm, so that the thesis, I belive, is no longer in doubt. At the end, you will find several relevant excerpts from recent newspaper accounts. (Note also the "Germany Alert" piece <cj#262>, which sheds light on Croatia's retaking of Krajina, and the Jewish Frontier excerpt <cj#263>, which goes into the background of the region.) Nato has succeeded in gaining a free hand from the U.N., and it has immediately escalated the conflict to general attacks throughout Croatia. No effort is being made to destroy the heavy guns around Sarajevo, but instead a terror campaign is being carried out against the Bosnian Serbs generally. This is just as in Desert Storm, where no attempt was made (until the very end) to oust Iraq from Kuwait. Contrary to most media reports, which carry bombing of anti-aircraft sites as the only actions in the conflict, there is in fact a general offensive against Bosnian Serbs on several fronts. The Croatian and Bosnian armies are both on the offensive. >>From the Bosnian Serb -- and the Russian -- perspective, a general offensive against the Serbs began with Croatia's blitzkrieg invasion of Krajina, and is now being pressed forward with the assistance of Nato, with the Luftwaffe in reserve, and with the U.S. contributing high-tech weaponry. These are hardly the circumstances in which the Serbs would feel motivated to remove their threat to Sarajevo. They fear, and rightly so, that Croatia would use Sarajevo as a base from which to expand its offensive. * * * There are important differences between the Bosnian and Gulf operations that should be noted. Recall that Grenada was the first experiment in modern blitzkrieg, Panama introduced a larger scale of operation, and the Gulf introduced the tactic of internationalization. What's new with Bosnia is the fact that the "target" has allies. Grenada, Panama, and Iraq each had no allies -- they were lone ducks which could be picked off without external entanglements. But the Bosnian Serbs are very closely linked to Serbia (which in turn is closely allied with Russia), and have historically relevant connections with Macedonia, Bulgaria, Greece, and the Ukraine. Russia is beginning relief flights to Belgrade, so that Russia will soon be actively operating in the conflict. Potentially allied with Bosnia and Croatia are Germany, Albania, Turkey, Iran, and Jordan. The more the conflict escalates, the more flagrant the attacks on the Serbs, and the more the media continues to mis-report events, the greater will become the frustration and fear experienced by the Serbs' natural allies. Already Yeltsin has identified the operation as a "testing ground" for how Nato plans to rule Europe. He didn't use the phrase "New World Order", but that's what he's talking about. With an understanding of the precedent being set, and a visceral connection with the Serbs, these allies will feel increasingly obliged to lend a hand. * * * What then, is the NWO game plan? This operation was entered into with all guns blazing, and full knowledge of the line-up of potential allies for the Serbs. Will the conflict be skillfully limited to the territory of Bosnia? Are there contingency plans for escalation beyond those borders? There must be such contingency plans, otherwise Serbia could throw the whole operation into disarray simply by actively joining the conflict -- an eventuality that can't be dismissed out of hand. The architects of Desert Storm, who have been closely advising the Croatians and Bosnians, certainly have the various options modelled on their computers, and have played out all the scenarios. If Serbia were to join the fray, the next level of escalation seems obvious. The Croatian and Bosnian armies would be fully mobilized, and would be supplied by Nato. This would be easily justifiable by the media, based on the threat posed to stability by "Serbia's reckless escalation". You'd soon have a full scale war carried out primarily in the territory of Bosnia, involving all these forces. But it would be a grossly unbalanced conflict, with air support, high-tech intelligence, and cruise missles available to only one of the sides. The NWO is well-prepared for that first increment of escalation. And for any other conceivable escalation, the U.S./German/Nato alliance can incrementally increase their participation, including German ground forces, American air power (Desert Storm style), and nuclear weapons, especially if Russia joins in. In the case increased ground forces are required, Turkey would be a likely candidate to contribute "expendable" manpower, Iran another. >>From a military point of view, the Nato Alliance can play at any level, up to and including a regional war involving Russia, Iran, Turkey, and everyone else we've mentioned. At each stage, there'd be the possibility of stabilization, or of further escalation. The game plan seems to be to get the Muslims to fight the Slavs, with Nato and the U.S. acting as gods -- determining the outcome of battles -- from the sky. >>From the Russian perspective, they are facing an "appeasement" scenario. We all learned from the experience with Hitler that once you start appeasing fascist aggressors, there's no stopping them. Are Russia and Serbia supposed to abandon the Bosnian Serbs in order to achieve "peace in our time"? Are the fully aroused Bosnian and Croatian fascist forces likely to avoid further provocations? Would Russia sacrifice Serbia? Would Serbia be the turning point, as Poland was in WWII? At the end of WWII, a frequent German question to Americans was "Why don't you turn us around, and help us defeat the Russians?" After 50 years, have the Germans have finally gotten an affirmative response? The situation in the Balkans appears to be unstable, and capable of escalating rapidly. There are close parallels with conditions preceding the outbreak of WWI. The recent actions of Nato are not designed to increase the level of stability. * * * With the Military Branch of the NWO in full battle gear, what is the Propaganda Branch up to? It's been on the job right along, focusing attention on Serbian atrocities, ignoring attacks and atrocities by the other side, etc. But with the Krajina invasion, and the cruise-missle escalation, the propaganda operation has been tightened down. "The Truth" is now announced daily by American "mediator" Richard Holbrooke. Independent corroboration of events is impractical, and Serbian and Russian pronouncements are "obviously" non-objective. As escalation occurs, given the Gulf precedent, we can expect less and less information about actual operations, increasing use of staged sound bites and selected military footage, and extensive demonization material against the enemy of the day. Just as in the Gulf, we can expect Hobrooke and others to lie about the scale and targets of the bombing, portraying indiscriminate puntive strikes as "precision" actions against military targets. Hobrooke's job is to provide propaganda cover for the operation, not to inform the public. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@ Here are some brief excerpts from recent newspapers: --- THE AMERICAN REPORTER, 10 August CROATIA NOT "CLEANSING" Meanwhile, Peter Galbraith, the influential U.S. ambassador to Croatia, rejected British and Serbian charges that Croatia is guilty of "ethnic cleansing." He told the BBC on Wednesday that "ethnic cleansing is a practice supported by Belgrade and carried out by Bosnian and Croatian Serbs, forcefully expelling local inhabitants and using terror tactics." He added that the Croatian military success could prove to be a positive step in resolving the conflict through negotiations... --- The Guardian Weekly, 13 August REFUGEES TRAPPED AS KRAJINA FALLS ...UN relief officials said up to 200,000 Serbs clogged the roads into northern Bosnia ...Zagreb is not worried about international isolation and condemnation. "The diplomats we're in contact with are impressed by the rapidity and efficiency of our operation"... --- The Guardian, 29 August MARKET CARNAGE PUTS UN ON SPOT 37 die in attack on Sarajevo 'safe area'... --- The European, 6 September GERMANY EDGES TOWARDS ACTION German political and public opinion is swinging in favour of a more forceful military approach to stop the killing in Bosnia, despite Bonn's reluctance to become embroiled in full-scale ground troop deployment... MILOSEVIC IS CORNERED (Serbia) ...In Belgrde there is widespread and defiant belief that the Serbs have been unjustly punished and that the massacre of civilians on 28 August in Sarajevo was staged by Bosnian Moslems to provke the subsequent armed intervention. --- The (London) Times, 8 September YELTSIN WARNS NATO OF EUROPEAN SPLIT IF BOMBING GOES ON ...Yeltsin said that Nato had no United Nations mandate to carry out prolonged attacks against the Serbs... unless Nato's intervention was halted, the fighting could trigger "a century-long war which will engulf other countries". ..."How is it," he asked, "that when the Muslims attack no sanctions are applied against them? The same thing happens when the Croats are on the offensive". --- The Guardian, 9 September SERBS DROP KEY WAR AIM Serb nationalist leaders accepted for the first time that [Bosnia] would continue to exist within its pre-war borders. ...The agreement was hailed by Richard Holbrooke, the United States mediator, who dominates the renewed peace effort, as a milestone in the search for peace. ...Nato to continue punitive air strikes against Bosnian Serbs because of further mortar attacks on Sarajevo. --- The Guardian, 11 September SERBS HIT WITH CRUISE MISSILES ...The Bosnian Serb army said many people had been killed and wounded in the "massive" attacks. ...Nato has consistently targeted the Serbs' integrated air defence system. DEFIANT MLADIC STICKS TO HIS GUNS Gen Mladic, ruthless and wily, in a move clearly aimed at sowing dissent within Nato ranks over the merits of maintaining the air campaign, promised to meet other demands. he offered to open relief routes into the Bosnian capital, pledged not to fire on Sarajevo unless provoked, and called for truce talks. ...Yesterday Nato planes bombed Bosnian Serb positions outside Tuzla for about 45 minutes, apparently in retaliation for Serb shelling of the UN-occupied Tuzla airporet. The shelling followed a Bosnian offensive. --- The (London) Times, 12 September RUSSIAN FURY OVER NATO'S CRUISE ATTACK ...Nato insisted that it had justified in using 13 Tomahawk missles... ...More airstrikes were launched yesterday and America prepared to send six F117 Stealth bombers, which can evade radar, to Italy for use in Bosnia. Bosnian government forces meanwhile seized the oppportunity to launch several offensives in central Bosnia... Mr. Kozyrev [Russian]: "There is an impression that Nato under the disguise of statements about its commitment to a political solution, is in fact turning the long-suffering land of Bosnia into a testing site for imposing it 'new role' in European and internatinal affairs"... Mr Claes [Nato Secretary-General] denied that Sunday's attack had been an escalation of the air campaign. [!] IMPROVED TOMAHAWK MAKES ITS BALKAN DEBUT (pictures, diagrams) The Tomahawk cruise missle, whose destructive pedigree was witnessed so publicly during the Gulf War in 1991 and against Iraq's intelligence headquarters in June 1993, has now made its debut in Bosnia-Herzegovina... --- The European, 13 September US DRIVES FOR PEACE AS NATO WARPLANES STRIKE ...The allies are hitting storage and ammunition depots, repair facilites, and communiations and control centres but avoiding Bosnian Serb guns to give the Serbs the chance to withdraw them. ... Some Serb-held parts, notably Grbavica, are just 300 meteres from the city's heart. A pullout would leave Serbs defenceless. MLadic has insisted that he cannot withdraw weapons without UN guarantees that Serb areas will not be attacked by Bosnian government forces... --- Irish Times, 13 September RUSSIA OBJECTS TO CONTINUING NATO ATTACKS ...Nato said the strikes would be stepped up. "The target list has been expanded," said Group Capt Trevor Murray, head of air operations for Nato's southern command in Naples, Itlay. He said Nato would continue its raids in a "graduated" way until Bosnian Serbs complied with UN demands to pull back their siege guns. ...Russia was urgently investigating a reported secret memorandum agreed last month between the United Nations and Nato, which laid the basis for the current bombing campaign. "It causes us great regret and concern that this memorandum was not presented or discussed with the Russian side," he said. ...In Croatia, state television reported that Bosnian Croats had captured large swatches of land in western bosnia, including the town of Sipovo and strategic mountain tops en route to the Serb-held town of Jajce. @@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
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