American Takes Part in the Serbian “Revolution (Oct 6, 2000)

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TiM GW Bulletin 2000/10-3

Oct. 6, 2000

American at the Serbian "Revolution:" Mob Looted Everything

Russia in Cahoots with New World Order (Again!)

Also, Comments from Serb, Romanian and Russian Readers; Yugoslavia Frees Four Britons and Canadians Detained in Montenegro in July; Yugoslav Revolution - a Palace Coup, Followed by a "Wag the Dog" Production

Belgrade 3. An American at the Serbian “Revolution:” Mob Looted Everything

BELGRADE, Oct. 6 - As we’ve already reported in an earlier telegraphic News Flash, Belgrade TV

and several news agencies reported this evening (Oct. 6), that Vojislav Kostunica met

with Slobodan Milosevic and General Nebojsa Pavkovic, the top Yugoslav military commander. As Kostunica and Milosevic met for the first time ever, the two shook hands and said "good evening" to each other. During an hour-long meeting, Milosevic reportedly congratulated Kostunica on his election as president of Yugoslavia.

Earlier in the day, Russia’s foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, had met for about an hour with both Kostunica and Milosevic. Afterward, Ivanov also met briefly the Serb Patriarch Pavle.

And now, in our next story, we bring you an editorial comment about the behind-the scene events that took place today that were no less dramatic than yesterday’s “revolution.” In fact, they lead one to suspect that the entire “revolution” was carefully (and masterfully!) staged by invisible joined hands of both Russia and the West, and with an open or tacit cooperation by the Milosevic regime.

2. Russia Stages Diplomatic Coup? No, It Proves It’s in Cahoots with the New World Order

BELGRADE, Oct. 6 - At a first glance, what happened today in Belgrade seems like an unprecedented diplomatic coup for Russia. After Washington had spent $77 million and an enormous amount of political capital to prop up Vojislav Kostunica and his DOS coalition partners, the Russian foreign minister, Igor Ivanov, flies into Belgrade this morning, and by this evening, is able to claim Kostunica’s Yugoslavia as a Russia’s friend and ally.

If true, such an end result would have made Kostunica more cunning than a fox. He took the western money (or to be more accurate, his DOS partners did it on his behalf, so he can claim his hands were clean), and then switched loyalties after he had achieved power. For the Serb patriots world over, this would be a time to rejoice. Such news would have been an even better than had Kostunica aligned himself with Russia immediately.

But the story seemed just too good to be true. And it was. For, there is another, more sinister and more perfidious explanation, a devastating outcome for the long-term survival and sovereignty of both Serbia and Russia. But this scenario is perfectly in line with the morally corrupt, but intellectually and diplomatically brilliant, strategies that the New World Order leaders have displayed thus far.

Russia’s foreign minister Ivanov is the only senior official of the Boris Yeltsin regime who has been able to keep his job after Vladimir Putin was elected president last March. Ivanov was, therefore, in the same post and a part of the Yeltsin-Chernomyrdin backstabbing betrayal of Serbia at the end of the NATO bombing over Kosovo.

For months now, we were wondering how on earth was Ivanov able to survive in his post if the Putin administration were really pro-Russian and independent? That’s been one of the reservations we’ve had about where Putin’s loyalties really lay.

Well, now we know. When the push came to shove in Serbia, Putin-Ivanov acted in much the same way as did Yeltsin-Chernomyrdin. After Washington did all the heavy lifting, they sent Ivanov into Belgrade to do some gentle arm-twisting and claim victory - for the New World Order. Just as Chernomyrdin did in June 1999.

Remember how throughout out the latest "Yugoslav crisis," Secretary of State Madeleine Albright kept stressing that she was in daily touch with Ivanov, as was the National Security Advisor, Sam Berger with his Russian counterpart? And speaking on the campaign trails today, the Democratic presidential candidate, Al Gore, took credit for the Russian role, saying Russia did what it did only after the U.S. pressure.

Which means that the “new Putin’s Russia” is evidently in cahoots with the New World Order.

Well, witness a continued outpouring of support for Kostunica from the West even after the Ivanov “coup.”

European Union has already announced that it will consider lifting the sanctions against Yugoslavia on Monday. Bill Clinton said today that the U.S. will support the move, as he welcomed the Serbs to the "international community."

The Yugoslav president-elect has already been invited by the French government to attend the next meeting of the European Union at Biarritz, France. Norway’s president is flying into Belgrade on Monday. Greek foreign minister is due tomorrow. The first foreign diplomat whom Kostunica visited today was the Italian ambassador, Giovanni Caracciolo, whom Kostunica thanked “for the role Italy played in the election campaign.”

Gee, and here we thought these were Yugoslav elections! Didn’t Kostunica only “yesterday” say he didn’t want any foreign interference? Plus, we’ve never heard of a president of a country paying a visit to a foreign embassy. Normally, it is the ambassadors that come calling on the president of a country, should he deem so inclined to receive them.

These Serb enemies are anything but foolish. After having kept the sanctions for more than eight years through thick and thin, do you really think they would lift them, just like that, unless they were SURE that they owned and controlled the new Yugoslav leader?

But what about Milosevic? Isn’t he an “indicted war criminal?” Didn’t Kostunica only yesterday say in his speech to the Serb “revolutionaries” from the balcony that, “Serbia hit the road of democracy And where there is democracy, there is no place for Slobodan Milosevic.”

Yes, he did. Yet here we have today, less than 24 hours later, Kostunica and Milosevic shaking hands and smiling.

Stand by for more such political pirouettes executed by the NWO marionettes who are now in charge in Belgrade.

Furthermore, Milosevic will not only stay in Serbia, and but is expected to lead his Socialist Party parliamentary opposition, according to Ivanov.

So here you have it - an amazing story of intrigue and backroom diplomacy that had staged this mock “revolution.” That is why there was no bloodshed. That is why the Milosevic police and his army retreated meekly before the mighty demonstrators armed with clenched fists, big mouths and Otpor buttons.

They police retreated because they were told to. Because their boss had made a deal. And it is a deal which also saves face for the West. For, now the NWO leaders can blame Ivanov and Kostunica for Serbia’s harboring an “indicted war criminal.” Tamed, gagged, but alive and free.

Among the people who seem unaware of the double and triple behind-the-scene dealings were the

500,000+ Belgrade marionettes. They believed they were staging a real “revolution.” In the end, however, this will probably be one for the Guinness record book - as the world’s biggest ever marionette show.

Still not convinced? Okay, consider the reaction of the Red Chinese government, an open supporter of Milosevic until now, as reported today by the Beijing China Daily: “With its recognition of Kostunica, Russia has put itself on the side of the West and has rescinded its support of Milosevic.”

Well, while the latter comment may be debatable in light of Ivanov’s wheeling and dealing today, the former comment is spot on. Russia has indeed put herself on the side of the West. (Or maybe has been all along, except that this may not have been apparent).

At the end of it all, this writer has to hand it to the NWO leaders. They are brilliantly devious! Even Nicolo Machiavelli would probably have to admire them for coming up with moves that leave you speechless and your head spinning. Except perhaps to say a prayer or two for both Serbia and Russia.

TiM Ed.: Some TiM readers may be wondering after all that has happened in Belgrade in the last two days - do we still think that Yugoslavia should join the Russia-Belarus union? We certainly do, just as before, from a geopolitical standpoint. And for the same reasons - long-term survival as a sovereign country, and preservation of its Orthodox Christian culture.

But that’s a moot point now. It takes two to tango. With its today’s actions, Russia has cast Yugoslavia into the EU and U.S. arms and shackles, making it quite clear that the Serbs are not welcome to such a union.

Putin’s government evidently agrees with Vojislav Kostunica’s campaign promise - that he wants to return Serbia “back to Europe.” Never mind that Serbia was never a part of Europe in a political sense, except when occupied by European empires, as we pointed in our “Red October” piece.

Putin’s Russia may still cause some consternation to the New World Order leaders now and then. But evidently not over Serbia.

As a result, we have now redrawn our geopolitical map of Europe, originally created in January 1999 (i.e., before the NATO bombing - see “New Iron Curtain over Europe,” 1999):

BELGRADE, Oct. 6 - A number of you have written to us and asked us to comment editorially about yesterday’s “revolution” in Serbia. We have said all that needed to be said well in advance of these events (see our “Red October” TiM Bulletin, for example). Still, we will publish a “post mortem”-type editorial do that in time - when passions subside and cooler heads prevail. And its title is likely to be - “A Requiem for Serbia.”

Meanwhile, we bring you a couple of eyewitness reports from our sources in Serbia. The first is a

report we’ve just received from an American who participated in yesterday’s Serbian “revolution.” Charles Alverson is a former Wall Street Journal reporter. Our old-time readers may recall his occasional contributions to TiM during the NATO bombing of Serbia (see “Serbian Nightmare,” Apr. 11, 1999, for example). He is married to a Serb lady (Zivana - in his report), with whom he has been living in a small town just outside Novi Sad for about six years now.

Mr. Alverson’s report about what happened yesterday in Belgrade echoes similar eyewitness stories we’ve received (in Serbian) from our other Belgrade sources. They all say the same thing: It was deplorable and disgusting to see the unruly mob destroy their own property - the national monument that the Parliament building represents. Not to mention the private property of various downtown Belgrade shopkeepers.

“ I went (by bus) to Belgrade Thursday (Oct. 5) morning only because, living as we are in virtual isolation here in Parage, if anything happened--as predicted--I wanted to be in on it. At first, I was disappointed as there was little of the excitement in the air of the multiple demos of nearly four years ago. But when I marched with the students--the most energetic groups--to in front of the Skupstina (Parliament - Yugoslav National Assembly) the vast number of people (estimated at 500,000) stretching both directions on the wide street and spreading across the large park in front of the Serbian National Assembly (TiM Ed.: across the street from the Yugoslav Parliament) was very impressive. In front of the Skupstina (Parliament) there was a thin line of militia (police) being very non-confrontational in blue-gray plastic helmet and flack jackets. They were carrying batons, weapons and gas masks, but for the most part they were middle-aged and non-aggressive. Some wore soft caps instead of helmets and joked with the crowd immediately in front of them.

But as we stood there en masse hearing speeches (which I did not understand), singing

the same old songs, changing the same old chants (Pobeda!' (victory); 'Hajmo, hajde, svi u napad!' (we go, you go, all into attack) 'Idemo Dedinje!' (Let's go to Dedinje (where Milosevic lives)) I started getting a bit depressed. this seemed to be the same old stuff that would fail as it did in '96-'97. In fact, after a couple of hours or so, I started moving (with some difficulty) through the crowd toward the center of town to phone Zivana that I was coming home rather than staying the night. But after I'd got fifty yards of so, the crowd made a crowd noise and I looked back to see a cloud of white smoke rise up front the top of the broad stone steps to the Skupstina (Parliament). Then came the frilly trajectory of tear gas grenades being fired into the crowd.

This was getting interesting. Instead of doing the sensible think and keep going, I turned against the fleeing mass of those closest until I came to the first whiff of tear gas. That didn't seem so bad, so I kept going right into a faceful of the stuff causing the usual streaming eyes, streaming nose, coughing, choking, spitting out excess saliva and the urge to both vomit and sit down to catch a breath of fresh air. But the worst of this passed, and I turned back toward the Skupstina (Parliament) ran into a real cloud of tear gas. Again I fled with the mob--mostly young men (like myself) as far as the ornamental pool that divides the street. There I dipped my handkerchief in the pool and put it over nose and mouth.

By this time, the attention of some of the fleeing was directed to a small street joining the broad one, at the bottom of which was a line of more militia (police) with rifles, clubs and clear plastic shields. Of course we (some of us more slowly than others) headed down that direction only to retreat before a cloud of tear gas. But the demonstrators regrouped and charged again--collecting fence posts, traffic signs, half bricks and rocks as they went. I picked up a rock about the size of a large lemon, but have no idea what I was going to do with it. As it turned out, the militia (police) decided to call it a day. At the bottom of the street they had abandoned, someone set fire to what looked like a couple of army trucks behind the Skupstina (Parliament) and others broke a shop window to extract a Serbian flag. People came out of the blocks of flats to offer water to the tear-gas affected.

The fun being over there, I headed back to the Skupstina (Parliament) to find the great mass of people still there like a standing army and others hurling rocks at the windows. Then a gasoline bomb started a fire on a balcony, and another flew through a window. A cheer went up from the steps, and part of the crowd--which was turning into a small mob--had broken into the Skupstina (Parliament) main doors. In a few minutes, they appeared at windows waving Serbian and Yugoslav flags, and papers, documents and other light objects started cascading from above. Soon there was a steady line of people threading through the crowd into the building and coming out with anything portable--chairs, small tables, parts of computers, books, ashtrays, coat racks, even yellow plastic waste baskets. People were breaking chairs up to make clubs in case of counterattack by the Army.

This was something I quite feared myself until I realized that the Army would have to slaughter much of the vast crowd. As it was, the only soldier (as opposed to militia (police) man) I saw was a bearded man who was with the demonstrators. I fought my way up to the entrance with a wet handkerchief over my mouth and nose and went into the first floor of the Skupstina (Parliament), which was thoroughly trashed. There was something about the smoky interior that did not encourage me to go further.

Instead, I came out and went to the other wing of the building where papers and small objects were raining down and several tall window frames were on first. While some people were setting fires, others were putting them out. There was a chance to enter the building at the ground level via a narrow metal winding staircase, but I decided to give it a miss.

Back in front people were still streaming out with loot. One guy had two crystal wine glasses. He reluctantly surrendered one to another demonstrator, and the two drank a toast in orange soda. Others were swigging from rakija (plum brandy) bottles, but there was no general drunkenness. The people were drunk enough with euphoria. Among the crowd were a number of young men wearing uniforms and equipment --gas masks, batons, plastic helmets and shields--confiscated from the militia (police). One brandished the prize of a shotgun that fired gas grenades.

Though all of this, it was clear that neither side had come prepared for battle. Although I saw one man with a hunting rifle, most demonstrators were armed with nothing more deadly than poster sticks, though they acquired more hefty weapons as the day went on. The militia (police) were far too few to deal with even a portion of the crowd in the front of the Skupstina (Parliament) and had pitifully little back-up. After they were disarmed, it is said, militia (police) members were protected from the wrath of the crowd by other demonstrators though 30 were reported hurt. The only deaths of demonstrators I heard about were a middle-aged man from a heart attack and a girl from outside of Belgrade who fell off a truck.

Soon it became clear that there would be no comeback by Government forces. The opposition had clearly--and easily--won the day, at least in the heart of Belgrade. Though some of the crowd looked less than happy and shook their heads at pronouncements by opposition leaders, I heard not a word in favor of Milosevic.

The looting continued despite efforts of the opposition to discourage it and the setting of fires. There was at least one personal rejection of the looting ethos when a grizzled old man seized a red-plush desk chair from a looter coming down the stairs and angrily denounced him. The boy left without the chair. In front of the conquered Skupstina (Parliament), the mood was euphoric. Kostunica, the new president apparent, made a speech as did a priest and a soldier. There was much more singing and chanting including 'Idemo na Dedinje,' but no serious move was made in that direction. Kostunica urged them to stay and hold what they had won. Besides, Milosevic was said to be in his bunker in Bor (TiM Ed.: see our “Red October” TiM Bulletin for more on this Milosevic hideout) in eastern Serbia near the Rumanian border.

I tried to find a public phone to tell Zivana that I was still alive but none was available. On the way back to Skupstina (Parliament) I stopped at Kasina--my favorite mini-brewery cafe--for a beer, and there was a crash and a cheer as a nearby shop was broken into. The looting was spreading to the center of town, and the targets were general. It occurred to me the next morning that I did not see a single policeman in Belgrade that day or night. Clearly they had abdicated their responsibility, and nobody took their place.

At 7:40 p.m., the fire department finally arrived and encouraged us to leave the Skupstina (Parliament) steps (I was at the very top enjoying the spectacular view of protestors as far as the eye could see) with a light sprinkling of water. I decided--after a long day--to walk to Zivana's cousins' flat for a bit of rest and perhaps something to eat. At the flat I saw television coverage of the demo and subsequent action and learned what had sparked it all. Apparently at the very front of the demonstrators a man wearing a cardboard hat was photographing the militia (police). I don't know that inspired it, but

suddenly one of them clubbed him over the head, and the fight was on. It did not last long. Several TV stations were off the air, but a number provided coverage. I learned that the State television station was also on fire.

After a bit of a rest (and roast chicken and beer provided by Cousin , a new Yugoslav from Macedonia), I walked back to the Skupstina (Parliament). By then the fire department had sealed the building and the scene in front of it had turned into a rave as (mostly) young people danced to techno music from loudspeakers. Others brandished unidentifiable bits of loot, clashing them together overhead like swords. A few cars crowded with cheering passengers inside and out crawled through the crowd.

By 10:30, I'd had enough and walked through the exultant streets back to my borrowed bed to gratefully go to sleep. When I awoke, Cousin Nada was weeping over the damage to the Skupstina (Parliament). As I walked back to the center, the mess and carnage increased as I got closer to the Skupstina (Parliament). The scene around it was like a battlefield. Someone was making a street to a small crowd in the park. In the center, trafikas (small, free-standing concessions) and shops were looted at random and loot--shoes, cosmetics, sportswear--was strewn widely, especially in an underpass. The looters had clearly taken advantage of the euphoria and lack of authority. The shop near Kasina that I had seen broken into was so trashed that you could not tell what it had sold. In the underpass, dazed shop assistants tried to bring some order to ravaged shops. I bought most of the daily newspapers and caught the bus to Novi Sad and my car.

This was a truly great experience, and I was glad that there had been so little injuries and

loss of human life. But I was saddened by the vandalizing of the Skupstina (Parliament). The vandals and looters seemed to forget that it was their property they were destroying and stealing and that the slim resources of this country will have to be used to repair and replace. And the purely commercial looting under cover of jubilation over the presumed fall of Milosevic was also saddening. Everybody is waiting to see Milosevic has any comeback. Despite the invalidation of the election by the Constitutional Court, Kostunica is considered widely to be the de facto new President of Yugoslavia.

Myself, I hope this victory of the people--not just the opposition--will not tainted by intrusion by America and the Western Powers or by any idea of giving Milosevic (if an when he is in hand) to the kangaroo court at The Hague. This would negate a great deal of the triumph we feel. Yugoslavia must be part of Europe but it need not be a New World Order colony. This is a victory of the Yugoslav people no matter how much the United States has tried to horn in on it with its money and unneeded advice for the opposition. We shall not forget their bombs or their rhetoric or the civilians they callously killed, the infrastructure they destroyed, the lives they blighted and the part of Yugoslavia (Kosovo) they stole and currently occupy in order to 'punish Milosevic.' The future is fraught with as much danger as the past.”

TiM Ed.: You can also view at our Web site some photos from yesterday’s Serbian “revolution” if you click on:

BELGRADE, Oct. 6 - Western quislings who have just taken over the government in Yugoslavia wasted no time in kissing up to their masters. In one of the first moves of the yet-to-be-formed government, two Britons and two Canadians who were arrested in late July in Montenegro for spying and possession of explosive materials were freed today (see Blasted Montenegro "Vacations:" Two Britons and Two Canadians Arrested in Montenegro? - for our original report on the incident).

Naturally, the British government officials rejoiced. Foreign Secretary Robin Cook welcomed the news and said it was a good sign that the new government was willing to "live within the rule of law." Mr. Cook said in a statement: "This is tremendous news and we share the relief of both officers and their families. There was no case against these men.”

TiM Ed.: And what about a “living within the rule of the Yugoslav law?” After all, the foursome did enter Yugoslavia illegally (without the visas). And they did have explosive materials in their car. Those are indisputable FACTS.

Well, the Serbs have just had their first taste of what’s yet to come. In the plutocratic New World Order world, the laws are made to be broken. Or bent. They should just check will Bill Clinton, Al Gore or Janet Reno to see how that’s done.

Looks like Vojislav Kostunica and his partners in the DOS coalition are quick studies.

BUCHAREST, Oct. 5 - American TiM readers had a chance to hear yesterday the Democratic presidential candidate, Al Gore, compare what happened yesterday in Belgrade with the fall of the Berlin wall in the fall of 1989 (pun intended). Other commentators likened it with the toppling of the Ceausescu regime in Romania at Christmas 1989, only less bloody.

Either way, the implication was - it was an event of momentous historic importance. Well, we bring you below a letter we received from Lara Duca, a Romanian “who’s been there, done that.” For those among the Serbs whose minds are still open, Ms. Duca’s comments may be eyeopening, too, though too late to make a difference anymore:

“I am afraid that Yugoslavia rien ne va plus (is no more). The damage is done. And we have witnessed indeed the last days of free Serbia. History tends to repeat itself in a rather obscene way. I seem to b repeating myself, too. But those who lived in Romania in the days of the so-called 1989 Revolution, can' t help thinking now about how similar these images are. The sensation of deja vu can become unbearable. From the euphoria of the masses to the wild mob into which they turned themselves - we saw it all here.

As I watch on TV the latest events unfolding in Belgrade my rage and pain grow. How can they be so blind? Why did they let themselves bought like this?

In few days, I saw the Romanian history of the past 10 years repeating itself, with only small variations. Because it seems that whoever planned all these learned the Romanian lesson: first buy the miners. They didn't do that in Romania, and it cost them much. But this time they did it right.

They got the youth and the intellectuals, and everybody else insane enough to eat the junk they served. I hear from the latest news that police fraternized with the people. And now that Politika fell into the opposition' s hands. They want to reach for the army now.

Hm, and so I remember again Romanians singing in 1989: "Armata e cu noi! Armata e cu noi!" (i.e. " The army is on our side!"). "We'll burn down Serbia", general Obradovic said not long ago.

And so they do. And again, deja vu. My parents shiver seeing the Federal Parliament building on fire. "Looks like our Victoria Palace", they whisper, thinking of those past days of December '89.

They are burning the television building. Here, in Bucharest, there was a fight for the television building, too (back in 1989). We had everything here.

But we know they won' t kill any people, although a Romanian reporter in Belgrade said he heard some automatic weapons fired in the air. But this is just media hoax. How can you trust them anymore when one of the journalists at a very anti- NATO magazine is now chief of the illegal B2-92 (pro-West) radio in Romania?

I try to see clearly, to read between the lines. If I had ever believed every word and every image I saw on TV, well, those times are gone.

No more CNN. I can' t stand it anymore. This Serb house of mine is already filled with tension. I think about my friends, about my family in Serbia. What are they doing now? But mostly, what will they do when all these are over...?”

BELFAST, Oct. 6 - We leave you with the following letter we received form Irina Malenko, a Russian TiM reader who now lives in Ireland. Her comments about what awaits Serbia are also based on her personal experiences in her native Russia:

“Hi Bob. It's really painful to see how history is repeating itself, and how people never learn from somebody else's mistakes...

Ten years ago, we were just as naïve, and even silly as so many people are today in Serbia (do not want to offend anybody, but that's just the way it is). We were also seriously believing that by changing one disgusting leader (Gorby) to a new one (Yeltsin) we would achieve "freedom." And that life after that would be, as they say in Russian fairy tales - "they began to live in peace and to become still wealthier" (zhit' pozhivat' da dobra nazhivat').

It is only after few years that we realized we changed from one traitor to another; that the man we were counting on, was in fact just a Western puppet. Just as the leader of the Serbian opposition is today...

I am just disgusted to see and to hear the screams of joy in the camp of the NWO on my TV screen, and to see how (the Serb_ people are still falling into the same trap. Stupid, stupid, stupid!!!

We all lost today, as it wasn't about Milosevic at all. It was about the future freedom of all of us. Bob, why don't you put yourself as a candidate for Yugoslavia’s president? I believe, you would have been a far better option for the people of your country, especially if they need per se somebody who was living abroad. :-) That's just a bitter joke, you understand...

My heart goes out to the people who have just lost the rest of their freedom -while they still continue to celebrate and believe that they have won.””

“You're absolutely right on all of the above points. I have been preaching that, too, to a wide readership that TiM enjoys, both in Serbia, and in nearly 100 countries around the world. But you know what they say - "you can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink."

There is even a more succinct proverb in Serbia for what has just happened: "Sjasio Kurta, da zajasi Murta" (Kurta dismounts, Murta mounts you). Kurta and Murta are typical Turkish/Muslim names. So I guess the proverb must have originated during the Ottoman occupation of Serbia.

As to your idea of me running for president, as you may have seen from one of the recent Bulletins, I often get asked that by the patriotic Serbs, too. My answer to you is the same as to them - there are too many whores in that line of work. Just look at how Vaclav Havel progressed from being a respected writer to a despised politician.”

BERLIN, Oct. 7 - German Foreign Minister, Joschka Fischer, said in an interview with the Der Spiegel magazine that Germany had supported the Yugoslav opposition with millions of marks in financial aid, according to an Oct. 7 Reuters report.

Norway also said it had helped fund the Yugoslav opposition's election campaign, which led to victory by opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica and soon afterwards to the overthrow of strongman President Slobodan Milosevic.

Der Spiegel said around $30 million, mostly from the United States, was channeled through an office in Budapest.

Another 45 million marks ($20 million) from Germany and other Western states went to cities that were under opposition control. Der Spiegel said the Foreign Ministry sent around 17 million marks through 16 German towns, which also contributed.

A spokeswoman for the Foreign Ministry confirmed the figures. “It was not disguised but rather it was entirely normal financial aid from the budget,” she said.

She said four million marks in media support went to Yugoslavia. She declined to identify which media outlets channeled the money, but Der Spiegel said state broadcasters ZDF and Bayerischer Rundfunk were used. .

Der Spiegel also reported that Fischer, U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright and some G-8 foreign ministers brought the Yugoslav opposition together in Berlin on December 17. “We read the riot act to the opposition then and told them to get their act together,” it quoted one participant as saying (see “Cavorting with the Enemy, Dec. 23, 1999).

In Oslo, Foreign Ministry spokesman Victor Roenneberg told Reuters the government had given “several million crowns” in financial aid to Yugoslavia and provided supplies ranging from computer and communications equipment for the opposition's vote count to oil to opposition-controlled villages.

Norway also funded opposition-run newspapers, radio stations and Internet media, he said. Norwegian Foreign Minister Thorbjoern Jagland arrived in Belgrade early on Saturday and met with Kostunica, who was to be sworn in at a ceremony later in the day.

As the TiM has already reported (see Item 1 above), the Norwegian president is due in Belgrade on Monday.

TiM Ed.: So the so-called Yugoslav “revolution” turned out to be an election bought and paid for

by the same countries that bombed Serbia last year. Yet my, now definitely FORMER friend, Vojislav Kostunica, kept denying that he and his DOS cronies took any money from anyone. Which makes him a… (TiM readers should feel free to fill in the blanks).

The Serb “demo farce” was then followed by a “Wag the Dog”-type pre-arranged “palace coup,” in which more than half a million Belgrade citizens were duped into acting as unpaid Hollywood-style extras.

Some “revolution!” Prague’s 1989 uprising has been dubbed a “velvet revolution.” Belgrade’s 2000 post-election protest should be named an “ostrich revolution.”

Which means that when Hollywood gets around to making the Yugoslavia sequel to the “Wag the Dog” movie, its title will be already set. “Ostriches,” of course.

VIRGINIA, Oct. 7 - We received the following reaction to our first edition of this TiM Bullein from Ben Works, a Washington-based military analyst, whom the TiM readers may recall from his previous contributions to TiM:

“Bob, "AV" (TiM Ed.: a Belgrade source) and I agree that we have seen the prestidigitation of a palace coup - coup de theatre co-opt the peoples' revolution.

Charles Alverson's report was an insight-packed article. My friend Jelena (in Beograd) was very angry about the destruction too. And most of that went unreported in the news shows.

More and more it appears that a palace coup de theatre has co-opted the revolution. The governing class takes care of itself first, last and always.”

WASHINGTON, Oct. 7, 2000 - Yugoslavia President Vojislav Kostunica has been invited to Washington to deliver the keynote address at The Yugoslavia Reconstruction Conference on November 13, according to today’s Business Wire report.

The conference will feature the latest information on reconstruction, development, trade, and investments in Yugoslavia. The European Union and the United States have announced that sanctions will be lifted against Belgrade, resulting in substantial new trade and investments in numerous industrial sectors. European governments are also expected to approve $2 billion for aid and reconstruction projects for Serbia.

The Yugoslavia Reconstruction Conference convenes one day before another major Washington conference on the region. The Southeastern Europe Finance Conference, to be held November 14-15, will feature a variety of public-sector and private-sector financing available for the economic development of the region and is expected to be opened by keynote addresses by the prime ministers of Macedonia, Croatia, Bulgaria, Albania, and Moldova.

TiM Ed.: “Perpetual war for perpetual commerce: First you knock them down, then you build them up?” Ever heard that before? (check out this writers 1999 wartime Washington speeches - e.g, http://www.truthinmedia.org/Kosovo/War/day74.html).

Also, stand by for a Kostunica-Clinton and/or Kostunica-Albright photo-op? Wonder what the Serb voters would think of their new president then?

MOSCOW, Oct. 7 - A TiM reader from Russia, asked us the following question regarding our story “Russia in Cahoots with New World Order (Again!)”:

“OK, but what concretely could Putin have done differently on Oct. 5th, if we assume, of course, that he's a true Russian patriot and friend of Serbia? For me that's the burning question.”

“Putin could have "drawn a line in the sand" (to quote George Bush in advance of the Gulf War). He could have made it clear to the West that Russia also has vital interests in the Balkans. And that NATO's eastern expansion will be halted at the (river) Drina (border between Bosnia and Serbia). And Russia will never allow NATO to get the strategically important Montenegro port of Bar.

And Putin could have sent that Northern Fleet to the Mediterranean (about which we first wrote in April!!! - check out our web site “Dangerous Saber-Rattling…”) - to the Mediterranean, to back up his words. God knows, maybe even the "Kursk" tragedy could have avoided that way. I hate to say it, but I can't help thinking that maybe the "Kursk's" sinking was God's punishment for Russian president's vacillating and waffling on an issue of such great geopolitical importance - to RUSSIA!

(Because what’s happening is Serbia is nothing short of another eastward expansion by NATO, only by other means).

Putin didn't do any of the above. As a result, Serbia is now lost, snatched by EU/NATO before Russia's nose. Even worse, with Russia leaders' cooperation. So Russia is out of the Balkans. "Permanently." (In a contemporary sense only, of course - as far as anything is permanent).

MOSCOW, Oct. 7 - Another Russian TiM reader wrote to us offering the following explanation for the reasons Russia didn’t want to get involved in Serb affairs:

“Dear Bob, understanding what a heavy heart You must be having these days, although my is not lighter either, re. the situation in Yugoslavia - I still have to express my disagreement with You re: Putin and Russia being NWO puppets. Not everything is as single dimensional as it seems. I propose here that host of main reasons for Russia's relative passivity in Balkans derives not from the Russia's "European Aspirations" (read NATO's, NWO's), albeit symptoms of that, of course, are still present in Russia’s thinking, but from most trivial fact that as always in 20th century Russia is not ready for decisive confrontation with the West.”

“I accept that as a possibility. But why then did Putin and his generals/admirals find it necessary to make all those noises last April about the deployment of the Northern Fleet in the Med.? (see “Dangerous Saber-Rattling…”). Nobody whipped them to do it. If you are right, wouldn't it have been better and smarter to have just kept quiet and not raised any hopes they could not fulfill? Or were they actually genuine back then, before Putin got bought during his three subsequent meetings with Clinton et. al. and his G-8 pals?

I have a sense that Russia may get a lot of IMF money pouring in after this, just as it got forgiveness of billions of dollars of Soviet debt as reward for the Yeltsin/Chernomyrdin backstabbing in 1999” (plus $4.5 billion of IMF financing - see “Yeltsin Completes Serb Betrayal,” June 22, 1999).

TiM Ed.: In addition, Clinton’s suspending the Defense Missile Shield program last month could have been a part-payment to Putin to stay out of Yugoslavia and keep mum about the “Kursk.”

LONDON, Oct. 7 - We received the following reaction from a TiM reader in Britain to a Bloomberg news wire report about the reconstruction funding that the Vojislav Kostunica has requested. But first, a clip from that news story:

“In its first 100 days, Kostunica's government plans to rebuild Yugoslavia's ties to Europe and to international lenders after years of isolation, seeking $1 billion assistance immediately and $7 billion over five years to begin remaking the economy, said Mladjan Dinkic, a Kostunica economic adviser.”

“If this is true - then Yugoslavia is set to become merely the latest "Dollarocracy." and there's absolutely NO WAY Kostunica could be anything but a Western stooge !!!...”

BELGRADE, Oct. 8 - We received the following question from a TiM reader in Belgrade in reaction to our latest update (Item 7 of this Bulletin):

“I need to ask you a rather personal question - you refer to Voja Kostunica as your ex-friend. Very briefly and in general terms only, why ex-friend?”

“Because I nobody who has taken money from the likes of Clinton/Albright/Schroeder can be a friend of mine. Voja's (Kostunica’s) lame excuse that someone else did it on his behalf, and that his hands are therefore clean, is just that - lame. Nor can someone who will eventually bring NATO into Serbia, whether done willingly or unwittingly, be my friend.

As I said in the Item 9 of this above Bulletin, stand by now for Voja's evolution into a full-fledged NWO stooge, after his visit to Washington (or maybe even sooner, after he travels to various EU NWO conferences). Once you see a Clinton-Kostunica or Albright-Kostunica shaking hands in a photo-op, hopefully you will understand that you've all swallowed a load of bull from my former friend.”

“You don't strike me as one who changes his mind acting on a whim, so I expect you had to have a strong reason. All I need to know is how strong was that reason and what was it in general terms? No details, nothing personal is required or expected, only the brief rundown. I am rather perplexed by it, since Kostunica said yesterday exactly the same thing he had been saying for years, he doesn't seem to have changed one letter of it.”

“Sorry to put it this way, but if that's what you think, then you are also naive, my dear friend. Ever heard of the "golden rule?" "He who has the gold rules." Kostunica doesn't.

(It makes no difference what he says. You know what they say - “a dog’s bark is worse than his bite.”).

So, enjoy the temporary material prosperity that Serbia will certainly experience in the next year or two as $2 billion of western money pours in (notice how no one is talking about REPARATIONS which would compensation to the victims of the NATO bombing?). Then stand by for what happened in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania...

The way I see it, Serbia is today roughly where Russia was in 1991. It's just that thy name is Kostunica, not Yeltsin. Yeltsin also talked tough to the West back then, lest you've forgotten? And just look at his image now...

P.S. You know what's really both ironic and a surefire proof about how much Kostunica has changed? Do you remember his stand in 1996/1997 during the anti-Milosevic street demonstrations? It was identical to my stance now. He refused to participate. He said he did not want any part of the crowd that carried western flags and chanted pro-western slogans.

Boy how fast amnesia sets in (when accompanied by millions of dollars and deutsch marks...) :-)

IGALO, Montenegro, Oct. 8 - We received the following letter from Vladan Kecman, a TiM reader in Montenegro, in reaction to our story about the western funding of the Kostunica/DOS election campaign. We’ve inserted our replies where appropriate:

“Indeed, indeed, with no FM or TV station available almost anywhere in Serbia, with just dozens of thousands of printed leaflets and billboards, traveling across entire Serbia in cars that consume so much expensive gasoline, helped by so many volunteers who used their own vehicles, seems like this “campaign” was so expensive that your “sources” had to spend millions…”

TiM Ed.: So who then pocketed tens of millions of dollars of western aid and for what?

“Indeed, all of my friends from my native Lazarevac, as well as many other Serbs who HAD IT ENOUGH, who walked through muddy shitty waters, and streets, did so just to benefit from mentioned "funds", and actually had no intention to divorce from those arrogant, cynical, hypocrite and corrupted SPS-JUL masters... No, they were not blind ostriches, dumb as dumb Americans, or dumb Norwegians, or dumb Germans, to drink and eat just media propaganda (which was NOT present), thus making their own reactions.”

I have no doubt that most protesters were genuine. It wouldn’t be the first time that masses have been duped. Millions also marched and cheered the communists 40 years ago, and Milosevic 10 years ago.

“What an enormous missunderstanding of the spirit of Serbian people, and the real reasons for these actions!”

TiM Ed.: What an enormous misunderstanding of spirit of the New World Order and how it operates.

“Your statements are no less insulting than those claimed by Milosevic - that all of 3 million DOS voters are fools, rabbits, hyenas and rats! Shame on you, Bob Djurdjevic! I hope you will make an apology to proud and honest Serbs, whom you called ostrich!”

TiM Ed.: Well, one thing is for sure, Vladan: God willing, one of us will be sorry.

A PS: The original correspondence with this TiM reader was conducted in Serbian. Thereupon, the TiM editor wrote back to Mr. Kecman, and suggested that he write back to us in English, so we could publish both his letter and our replies for the benefit of other TiM readers, since we like our readers also to see critical, not just approving comments.

TiM Ed.: That’s it for now. We’ll bring you some of our other reader correspondence in a regular TiM Readers Forum. For those in Serbia who are still drunk on Yugoslav “revolution” euphoria, and expect a state of prosperity and happiness to ensue, we will let some great minds from human history have the last word:

"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed, second it is violently opposed, and third, it is accepted as self-evident." (Arthur Schopenhauer)

"Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds." (Albert Einstein )

"At a time of universal deceit - telling the truth is a revolutionary act." (George Orwell).