Jugoinfo


70 ANNI FA...
La fuga degli antifascisti jugoslavi dalla Rocca di Spoleto (PG) e gli albori della Resistenza in Valnerina


Fonte: I PARTIGIANI JUGOSLAVI NELLA RESISTENZA ITALIANA
Storie e memorie di una vicenda ignorata
di Andrea Martocchia - con contributi di Susanna Angeleri, Gaetano Colantuono, Ivan Pavičevac
Prefazione di Davide Conti, Introduzione di Giacomo Scotti
Roma, Odradek, 2011 - http://www.partigianijugoslavi.it/

dalle pp. 26, 32-34:


<< In Umbria, a partire dal 1942, tanti jugoslavi – montenegrini, sloveni, croati – furono destinati alle miniere di lignite o alle fornaci di mattoni della Regione; altri furono rinchiusi nelle carceri di Perugia e Spoleto; altri ancora – la maggioranza – furono internati in campi di concentramento, il principale dei quali fu quello di Colfiorito, presso Foligno. [...]  
Il vero nucleo organizzativo-militare della costituenda brigata partigiana della Valnerina fu costituito da quelli scappati dalla Rocca di Spoleto: 

"un folto gruppo di jugoslavi (...) vi erano detenuti per motivi politici. Scarse testimonianze si hanno di questa evasione. Essa comunque avvenne nella notte tra il 13 ed il 14 ottobre 1943." [...]  

Svetozar Laković [nome di battaglia "Toso"], che era nativo di Berane (Montenegro), racconta: 

"Come partigiano della prima ora nel 1941, fui arrestato qui nel Montenegro da fascisti italiani e condannato a vent’anni di carcere. Fui dapprima, assieme ad altri compagni nelle carceri dell’Italia del nord [Volterra] e quindi trasferito a Rocca di Spoleto. Noi jugoslavi eravamo circa 150, c’erano anche una cinquantina di prigionieri politici greci e gli altri erano italiani. Dopo la capitolazione apprendemmo che dai vari campi di concentramento i prigionieri cominciavano a fuggire. Paventando di essere consegnati ai tedeschi (...) effettuammo un attacco in forze contro la guardia del carcere, una trentina di carabinieri; li disarmammo e riuscimmo a fuggire. Ci dividemmo in quattro gruppi ed io mi posi al comando di un gruppo (avevamo con noi qualche fucile)." [...]  

Otello Loreti, un antifascista di Spoleto che già il 13 settembre si era dato alla macchia, ricordò così quella evasione:

"Ero a conoscenza che nella Rocca di Spoleto vi era un forte nucleo di detenuti politici jugoslavi, prevalentemente studenti condannati dai tribunali ustascia ed italiani. Infatti questi detenuti erano inviati a lavorare nei vari laboratori ed aziende della città ed è stato per questo motivo che sono venuto in contatto con alcuni prigionieri. La sera del 13 ottobre, verso le 17, tutti i detenuti erano stati rinchiusi nelle loro celle. Era rimasto fuori Giuseppe [...], uno slavo che esercitava il mestiere di fabbro. Giuseppe aggredì una guardia di servizio, gli tolse l’arma e lo obbligò ad aprire le celle in modo da far uscire gli altri. Accorsero altre guardie che si fecero disarmare facilmente. I detenuti, armi alla mano, obbligarono il Direttore [Guido Melis] ad aprire la porta principale ed anche il magazzino viveri dove si rifornirono di vettovaglie. Gli jugoslavi disarmarono poi altre guardie e quindi dal Ponte delle Torri presero la via dei boschi dopo essersi divisi in tre gruppi per meglio sfuggire alle ricerche."

Loreti ed il suo piccolo gruppo, costituito assieme ad Umbro Giulidori e Mario Leonardi, [...] intercettarono gli jugoslavi in fuga, a Raischio, nella proprietà del marchese della Genga, e per loro approntarono la sistemazione in un fienile.

"I boschi circostanti Spoleto erano loro familiari in quanto vi erano stati condotti in occasione di alcuni bombardamenti aerei, per cui fu abbastanza agevole per essi dileguarsi e raggiungere la montagna dove si incontrarono con noi che già ci eravamo dati alla macchia. Il Direttore del Carcere di Spoleto dottor Melis ritardò a dare l’allarme e questo agevolò, in un certo senso, la fuga degli jugoslavi. Per questo ritardo il Direttore fu arrestato insieme alla famiglia ed a molte guardie di servizio e detenuto nel carcere di Perugia fino alla Liberazione."

Il primo scontro a fuoco con i tedeschi in cerca degli evasi si verifica già il giorno 14 nel paesino di Caso. In questa località i partigiani di Loreti riescono a rifornirsi di alcuni fucili che erano nascosti in un fienile; a dare man forte c’è poi lo stesso Ernesto Melis [il figlio del Direttore del carcere, che si pone alla guida di una sua banda partigiana] con i suoi uomini, dotati di mitragliatrici: presi tra due fuochi, i tedeschi si danno alla fuga. [...]  

La banda Melis, anche in virtù della sua composizione, si prefiggeva obiettivi diversi rispetto a quelli dei partigiani comunisti – tali erano Loreti, gli jugoslavi guidati da “Toso”, e tutti quelli che negli stessi giorni si radunavano attorno ad Alfredo Filipponi presso Terni. Lo stesso Loreti non aderì mai alla “Melis” e preferì unirsi agli jugoslavi; con loro entrò nella brigata “Gramsci” di Filipponi e condivise tutte le vicende della Resistenza in zona. Ci fu comunque un periodo di “interregno” ed incertezza che durò fino alla fine del mese di ottobre. Ai primi di novembre Ernesto Melis d’accordo con lo stato maggiore della sua banda ne decise lo scioglimento “tattico”, per evitare che i propri famigliari – che nel frattempo erano stati tutti arrestati – corressero rischi eccessivi. In seguito, sia i militari di Melis che gli jugoslavi di “Toso” si trasferirono in altre zone ritenute più sicure. Gli jugoslavi in particolare scelsero come base Mucciafora in Alta Valnerina...




TENTACOLI GIULIANO-DALMATI

Eremo di Ronzano, tremila firme
contro lo sfratto dei frati


Oggi si riunisce il consiglio provinciale dei Servi di Maria. L'appello dei laici: "Non vogliamo perdere il luogo della chiesta conciliare a Bologna, fermatevi"


Tremila firme contro lo sfratto dei frati da Ronzano. Cresce la rivolta di laici e religiosi a difesa dell’eremo e della sua storia. L’ordine dei Servi di Maria, a livello provinciale, ha deciso di far scendere i religiosi, rimasti in quattro, dalla collina, per assegnare la gestione del complesso conventuale ad esponenti dell’associazione reduci giuliano-dalmati. Una decisione che ha colto tutti di sorpresa e che trova contrari gli stessi frati e i laici.

In rete è partita già da alcune settimane la protesta, che ora è arrivata a 2.244 sostenitori (quelli che hanno firmato l’appello on line) più le settecento firme raccolte dall’Associazione Amici di Ronzano in banchetti e incontri nelle ultime settimane. Tante anche le lettere private, qualcuno ha scritto al sindaco Virginio Merola. Indignazione e rabbia. L’appello, rivolto al priore provinciale fra Gino Leonardi, chiede di rivedere la decisione, di aprire “un confronto che consenta una soluzione che salvaguardi questa importante realtà ecclesiale, civile e culturale”. Perché con la “cacciata” dei religiosi quel luogo di testimonianza della chiesa conciliare che Ronzano ha rappresentato per decenni a Bologna rischia di disperdersi.

Oggi è previsto un incontro del Consiglio provinciale dell’Ordine dei Servi di Maria. Sul tavolo arriverà la protesta, rilanciata nei giorni scorsi anche dall’agenzia Adista, che è la più importante agenzia di informazione religiosa. All’incontro parteciperà anche frate Pietro, che ha rassegnato le dimissioni da priore conventuale perché contrario al “programma di ristrutturazione” della Provincia dell’ordine religioso.

Sono centinaia di testimonianze on line per quel luogo dell’anima condiviso da decenni da cattolici e non solo. “Importantissimo preservare un luogo di incontro tra laici e credenti in un ambiente splendido”, scrive Paola Calzolari. “Sono sempre più rari i luoghi dove si possa sperimentare la bellezza di Dio. Ronzano è uno di questi luoghi intrisi di Spirito Santo. Non abbandonatelo al mondo”, è la richiesta di Dino Dazzani. Per Giampaolo, Ronzano “è un luogo di crescita e confronto, una perla che il mondo cattolico non può perdere”

Nell’appello si legge: “I sottoscritti chiedono al Priore Provinciale e al Consiglio dei Servi di Maria di rivedere la scelta su Ronzano.
 Che cosa rappresenta l’Eremo per quanti lo frequentano? Un luogo di spiritualità conciliare, ispirato al Vaticano II, un luogo di cultura e ricerca, uno spazio di fraternità, un eremo accogliente e un ambiente ecologico. Pur nel rispetto delle difficoltà dell’Ordine, che sono all’origine dei provvedimenti, si chiede di aprire un confronto che consenta una soluzione che salvaguardi questa importante realtà ecclesiale, civile, culturale”.

(14 ottobre 2013)


Per sottoscrivere l'appello: 



(castillano, italiano)

Dalla Libia a Lampedusa il passo è molto breve

1) 20 ottobre 2011 - 2013: Due anni fa l'assassinio per linciaggio e sevizie di Muammar Gheddafi. Il testamento politico
2) ¿Quién hundió el “Anti-Titanic” en Lampedusa? (N. Armanian)
3) La disintegrazione della Libia (P. Lavrentieva)
4) Libia, Intervista a Angelo Del Boca: «Il paese non c'è più, ormai si è somalizzato»


CITAZIONE:

"La storia sarà con i popoli che lottano per giuste cause, mai con chi sollecita le potenze imperiali straniere a venire ad attaccare il proprio paese. Il destino che attende i criminali del CNT è scritto con inchiostro indelebile, come è rimasta scritta, la storia del martirio di un popolo, delle sua città e della sua famiglia. Avanti con il sacro dovere di lottare fino alla vittoria o alla morte. Con l'esempio eterno del colonnello Gheddafi, leader coraggioso del popolo libico e guida della Jamahiriya Libica Popolare e Socialista".
Fidel Castro

LINKS:

Patto segreto tra Italia e Libia contro i migranti. La denuncia di A.I. (2012)

Sul rifornimento italiano di armi ai tagliagole anti-libici:
Armi sui traghetti, il segreto di Stato fa affondare l’inchiesta
http://lanuovasardegna.gelocal.it/olbia/cronaca/2013/04/06/news/armi-sui-traghetti-il-segreto-di-stato-fa-affondare-l-inchiesta-1.6831787


=== 1 ===


Testamento politico di Muammar Gheddafi, Guida della Rivoluzione della Grande Jamahiriya Araba Libica Popolare Socialista

In nome di Allah, il Clemente, il Misericordioso;
Per 40 anni, o magari di più, non ricordo, ho fatto tutto il possibile per dare alla gente case, ospedali, scuole e quando aveva fame, gli ho dato da mangiare convertendo anche il deserto di Bengasi in terra coltivata.
Ho resistito agli attacchi di quel cowboy di nome Reagan anche quando uccise mia figlia, orfana adottata, mentre in realtà, tolse la vita a quella povera ragazza innocente cercando di uccidere me.
Successivamente aiutai i miei fratelli e le mie sorelle d’Africa soccorrendo economicamente l'Unione africana, ho fatto tutto quello che potevo per aiutare la gente a capire il concetto di vera democrazia in cui i comitati popolari guidavano il nostro paese; ma non era mai abbastanza, qualcuno me lo disse, tra loro persino alcuni che possedevano case con dieci camere, nuovi vestiti e mobili, non erano mai soddisfatti, così egoisti che volevano di più, dicendo agli statunitensi e ad altri visitatori, che avevano bisogno di "democrazia" e "libertà", senza rendersi conto che era un sistema crudele, dove il cane più grande mangia gli altri.

Ma quelle parole piacevano e non si resero mai conto che negli Stati Uniti non c’erano medicine gratuite, né ospedali gratuiti, nessun alloggio gratuito, senza l’istruzione gratuita o pasti gratuiti, tranne quando le persone devono chiedere l'elemosina formando lunghe file per ottenere un zuppa; no, non era importante quello che facevo, per alcuni non era mai abbastanza.

Altri invece, sapevano che ero il figlio di Gamal Abdel Nasser, l'unico vero leader arabo e musulmano che abbiamo avuto dai tempi di Saladino, che rivendicò il Canale di Suez per il suo popolo come io rivendicai la Libia per il mio; sono stati i suoi passi quelli che ho provato a seguire per mantenere il mio popolo libero dalla dominazione coloniale, dai ladri che volevano derubarci.

Adesso la maggiore forza nella storia militare mi attacca; il mio figliuolo africano, Obama, vuole uccidermi, togliere la libertà al nostro paese, prendere le nostre case gratuite, la nostra medicina gratuita, la nostra istruzione gratuita, il nostro cibo gratuito e sostituirli con il saccheggio in stile statunitense, chiamato "capitalismo", ma tutti noi del Terzo Mondo sappiamo cosa significa: significa che le corporazioni governano i paesi, governano il mondo e la gente soffre, quindi non mi rimangono alternative, devo resistere.

E se Allah vuole, morirò seguendo la sua via, la via che ha arricchito il nostro paese con terra coltivabile, cibo e salute e ci ha permesso di aiutare anche i nostri fratelli e sorelle africani ed arabi a lavorare con noi nella Jamahiriya libica.
Non voglio morire, ma se succede, per salvare questo paese, il mio popolo e tutte le migliaia che sono i miei figli, così sia.

Che questo testamento sia la mia voce di fronte al mondo: che ho combattuto contro gli attacchi dei crociati della NATO, che ho combattuto contro la crudeltà, contro il tradimento, che ho combattuto l'Occidente e le sue ambizioni coloniali e che sono rimasto con i miei fratelli africani, i miei veri fratelli arabi e musulmani, come un faro di luce, quando gli altri stavano costruendo castelli.

Ho vissuto in una casa modesta ed in una tenda. Non ho mai dimenticato la mia gioventù a Sirte, non spesi follemente il nostro tesoro nazionale e, come Saladino, il nostro grande leader musulmano che riscattò Gerusalemme all'Islam, presi poco per me ....

In Occidente, alcuni mi hanno chiamato "pazzo", "demente": conoscono la verità, ma continuano a mentire; sanno che il nostro paese è indipendente e libero, che non è in mani coloniali, che la mia visione, il mio percorso è, ed è stato, chiaro per il mio popolo : lotterò fino al mio ultimo respiro per mantenerci liberi, che Allah Onnipotente ci aiuti a rimanere fedeli e liberi.

Colonnello Muammar Gheddafi, 5 aprile 2011


=== 2 ===

en francais: Qui est responsable du naufrage de « l’anti-Titanic » de Lampedusa ? 

---


¿Quién hundió el “Anti-Titanic” en Lampedusa?


06 oct  2013
Nazanín Armanian

Si no fuera porque el número de los refugiados fallecidos en la costa italiana ha superado el techo de la “normalidad” que ronda sobre 60-70 personas, la tragedia de los tripulantes de esta patera hubiera pasado desapercibida. Hace dos años 61 refugiados –incluidos varios niños-, naufragaron en este mismo lugar al quedarse sin alimentos y combustible, mientras un portaaviones de la OTAN les miraba sin pestañear.

Sin nombre, ni historias de amor o de intriga, ninguna canción eternizará su viaje a la muerte, ni nadie hará una película de esos hombres y mujeres valientes capaces de arriesgar su vida no solo para cumplir su sueño, sino para ayudar a su familia y empujar de paso el carro de la civilización humana.

“Deshumanizar al otro” es una estrategia política que legitima el trato que se le da; el mismo que han recibido decenas de miles de asesinados bajo los bombardeos en Irak, en Afganistán o en Pakistán: mientras ellos carecen de identidad, nos enseñan en la tele la foto de la boda y de la esposa embarazada de aquel soldado de ocupación muerto a manos de un nativo “bárbaro y despiadado”.

¡Cómo esos cuerpos en el mar han puesto a prueba, una vez más, nuestra capacidad de no sentir vergüenza de votar a individuos que aprueban leyes antinaturales como la de castigar a quien ayuda al prójimo! Aún así, varios pescadores italianos siguiendo su instinto salvaron la vida de decenas de aquellas personas desesperadas, escupiendo a la cara de demonios disfrazados que hemos colocado en los sofás de los palacios.


Vidas no contadas

Entre las historias de vida de miles de personas, campeones olímpicos sin medallas que saltan las vallas de púas más altas con manos ensangrentadas, que se lanzan a los mares indomables huyendo de guerras, hambrunas, persecuciones políticas, étnicas, religiosas, de género, víctimas de políticas de sus gobiernos o del pulso de las grandes potencias mundiales por expolio de sus inmensos recursos naturales, podemos conocer las siguientes:

-Fátima, mujer somalí de 26 años que viajaba junto con su hijo Ahmed de 5 años. Su país, ubicado sobre un lago de petróleo no explotado, ha sido declarado por Occidente  como “Estado fallido” – contraseña del “país poseedor de recursos naturales o ruta de su tránsito, ya apto para ser dominado”-, desfallece de hambre sobre inmensas reservas de uranio, oro, petróleo, gas, bauxita y cobre. El escándalo fabricado sobre los “piratas” de pocamonta en 2009, -si bien estaba al servicio de militarizar el Cuerno de África y el Golfo de Adén, uno de los corredores más estratégicos del planeta que conecta el Golfo Pérsico, el Mar rojo y el Canal de Suez y por donde pasa el 30% del petróleo del mundo-, revelaba además que el pescado y el marisco de sus caladeros –lo poco sustento que les quedaba-, acababan en las mesas de los hoteles españoles y franceses, y que los verdaderos “bandidos del mar” de guantes y tez blancos, de paso vertían toneladas de desechos tóxicos en sus costas.

- Ahmed, niño de ojos grandes de 10 años, otra víctima, era huérfano al igual que varios millones de pequeños somalíes. No quería convertirse en uno de los 500.000 niños que viven en las calles del país, o verse obligado a trabajar jornadas interminables a cambio de un plato de comida, con palizas y abusos sexuales de postre, o convertirse en soldado o esclavo en el “mercado libre” del capitalismo global que ofrece “niño a la carta” a las empresas de todo tipo. Ahmed, que al embarcarse pensó que se había librado de tal destino, se encuentra ahora en el fondo del mar.


De Etiopia y Libia

- Abeba, mujer de la tierra del café, Etiopía, había conseguido junto con otras activistas que la Constitución prohibiera la ablación. Todo un logro. Para la luchadora de las batallas imposibles era más difícil, sin embargo, derrotar el sistema económico, político y social capitalista que bendice una violencia patriarcal estructurada. Su espalda, destrozada por llevar cargas pesadas durante horas de camino, ya no aguantaba. Se echó a esta aventura llevando consigo a su sobrina Hakima, de 7 años, una de los cuatro millones de niños huérfanos etíopes. El sueño de Abeba era salvarle de la desnutrición severa que mata a miles de pequeños en este país, que un día de 1974 se declaró socialista tras derrocar al dictador zombie Haile Selassie, gobernante de una población literalmente moribunda, enferma y analfabeta. El Gobierno militar de Haile Mariam, con el apoyo de la Unión Soviética y Cuba realizó reforma agraria, declaró universal y gratuitas la educación y la sanidad, y miró por los derechos de la mujer y de las minorías étnicas. Sus recursos como el oro, gas natural, tantalio, y mármol, por fin iban a servir al rescate de sus propietarios. Los errores del Gobierno, las terribles sequías de los años 80 que mataron a cientos de miles de personas, junto con las provocaciones de EEUU desde Eritrea que armaba a los rebeldes (quienes destinaban las ayudas internacionales contra el hambre a la compra de armas) ralentizaron este avance hasta ser paralizado con la caída de la URSS. Una situación parecida a la de Afganistán, país del que han huido unas 6 millones de personas en las últimos tres décadas.

Al final el Mar “rojo” no hizo gala de su nombre y Washington consiguió apoderarse del control del país y su privilegiada ubicación. Hoy, a pesar de ser una economía en bancarrota, y con medio millón de niños en riesgo inminente de morir, el Gobierno gasta 100 millones de dólares en la compra de 200 tanques a Ucrania.

- Ebrahim fue un arquitecto libio que dejó a su esposa y los dos hijos, y siguió la ruta del transporte que lleva los recursos de su tierra y se dirigió a Italia. Pensaba hacerse con un sitio allí y luego solicitar la reagrupación familiar. La situación tras el asesinato de Gadafi es caótica y deja en nada la promesa de la OTAN de democratizar el país. Es la misma Alianza militar que descargó toneladas de bombas sobre la población civil, sepultando miles de vidas y destruyendo las infraestructuras, para luego reconstruirlas con el dinero de las propias damnificadas (Libia: un negocio de guerra redondo). Se equivocó Ibrahim si pensó que los gobiernos occidentales beneficiarios de aquella infame agresión, a cambio, atenderían a los ciudadanos libios en Europa. ¡Había 65.000 millones de dólares líquidos libios en los bancos italianos! Por su parte, la Fiscalía de París investiga la posible financiación de la campaña electoral de Sarkozy en 2007 por parte de Gadafi. Los juegos sucios alcanzan puntos insospechados: Sarkozy luego pactó con los rebeldes del Consejo Nacional de Transición el derrocar al Coronel a cambio de que las empresas galas obtuvieran el 35% de las participaciones en el negocio de fuel. Hoy, el desgobierno, una cruenta lucha entre grupos armados por hacerse con el control de lo que es la mayor reserva petrolífera de África (la doble que las de EEUU), y una huelga intermitente de los trabajadores del petróleo han paralizado la economía. El colapso del Estado libio y la baja productividad de su industria petrolífera son parte de los motivos que impiden a los europeos apuntarse a la guerra de EEUU contra Siria.


Política de empobrecimiento

Condenar a los países ricos al subdesarrollo es una estrategia política que se ejecuta con la complicidad de las oligarquías y regímenes locales neopatrimonialistas ligados a negocios de todo tipo. Es la esencia de las recetas cocinadas por las instituciones financieras que obligan a los Estados a realizar reajustes estructurales y privatizar sus recursos naturales (¡como bosques de Tanzania!), con el fin de facilitar inversiones extranjeras. Una parte de la liquidez de los bancos occidentales ( Banco de Crédito y Comercio Internacional, por ejemplo) proviene del contrabando de piedras preciosas, tráfico de drogas y de armas de un África que mueve dinero dentro y fuera pero no deja nada para su desarrollo.

En nuestro cayuco imaginario también estaban gente de Malí, país invadido por la OTAN , tierra de petróleo, oro y uranio, donde la esperanza de vida es sólo de 37 años, o de Nigeria, el séptimo productor mundial del petróleo…

Es la misma historia de los iraquíes: atacados y masacrados por EEUU y sus aliados, unos 5 millones de los habitantes de la antigua babilonia, se han refugiado en los países vecinos, donde empiezan otras guerras (la de Siria) y deben volver a recoger sus bártulos huyendo hacia ninguna parte.

En 2012 se contabilizaron unos 230 millones de inmigrantes.

Ninguna vigilancia aérea y marítima, ni siquiera hundir las pateras en el mar a cañonazos, como proponía el ultraderechista italiano Umberto Bossi , podrá detener a millones de seres humanos a que huyan a de su tierra.

Ya no funciona relacionar la inmigración con la delincuencia: ¡que miren los juzgados en España! Tampoco es tarde que los ciudadanos corrijan su mirada hacia los refugiados e inmigrantes cuando tienen hijos que con dos títulos universitarios, viven en un piso patera en Londres o Berlín, y limpian los WC. Aun así, España desde el 2013 ha deportado a 6.056 inmigrantes, y seguía deteniendo al desgraciado transportista de una patera o de un camión, quizás para desviar la atención a los verdaderos causantes del tráfico de seres humanos o quizás para que nadie ponga en entredicho su idea brillante de pagar a los gobiernos, como al senegalés, para que admitan la repatriación de los refugiados detenidos, pisando las leyes internacionales. No nos dicen que las autoridades corruptas de éste mismo país conceden licencias especiales de pescar a empresas extranjeras, elevan las tasas de estos permisos para los nativos, forzándoles a lanzarse al mar para llegar a España.

De África se están llevando el oro, el coltán, el hidrocarburo y otros recursos, y a cambio se les envía aviones cargados de armas y muchos misioneros para que les invite a paciencia y vivir el sueño de tener una vida mejor en el “otro mundo”.



=== 3 ===


La disintegrazione della Libia

di Polina Lavrentieva

Nel 2011, Thierry Meyssan assicurava che non vi era alcuna primavera araba in Libia, che la popolazione non si era rivoltata contro Muammar Gheddafi, ma che gli occidentali usavano il movimento separatista della Cirenaica. Due anni dopo, il gioco è fatto: Tripoli ha perso il controllo di Cirenaica e Fezzan, come hanno osservato gli inviati speciali delle Nazioni Unite. La ricchezza del Paese è ora solo nelle mani delle bande e delle multinazionali statunitensi.

RETE VOLTAIRE | MOSCA (RUSSIA) | 11 OTTOBRE 2013

Non si può fermare il processo di disintegrazione della Libia iniziato dall’assassinio di Muammar Gheddafi. Un nuovo rapporto delle Nazioni Unite dice: sullo sfondo della separazione della province della Libia “liberata dal dittatore”, avvengono esecuzioni affrettate, una massiccia oppressione politica e torture.
Secondo la relazione congiunta della Missione di Assistenza delle Nazioni Unite in Libia (UNSMIL) [1] e dell’Alto Commissario delle Nazioni Unite per i diritti umani, circa 27 persone sono morte in carcere nel Paese solo alla fine del 2011 [2]. 8000 persone sono detenute nelle carceri del Paese. Sono state definite, nel 2011, “partigiani di Gheddafi”. La maggior parte di loro non è stata nemmeno formalmente indagata e nessuno sa per quanto tempo rimarranno in carcere, perché il sistema giudiziario non funziona quasi più.
Il New York Times suggerisce che le persone siano state arrestate per motivi religiosi o etnici, o perché sospettate di non essere fedeli alla “democrazia”. I detenuti con cui gli ispettori delle Nazioni Unite hanno potuto parlare, hanno riferito di essere picchiati e torturati dal fuoco e dalla fame, nelle carceri.
Nell’aprile di quest’anno, è stata approvata una legge in Libia per impedire la tortura e condannare i rapimenti. Ma non viene applicata. Questa è solo una parte del quadro della disintegrazione dello Stato libico. Le regioni si ritirano gradualmente, come ci aspettavamo due anni fa su queste pagine. E questo non accade senza spargimento di sangue.
Il 27 settembre, il Fezzan ha dichiarato l’indipendenza, o almeno la sua piena autonomia, [3] i leader tribali hanno deciso così “per via dello scarso lavoro del Congresso.” A giugno, è stata la regione (ricca di petrolio) della Cirenaica [4] che s’è ripresa la sua libertà. Delle tre regioni storiche della Libia, solo la tripolitania ne fa ancora parte. Per ora, non c’è forza in grado di riunire questi tre Stati storici che formavano la Libia dal 1951.

Fonte 
Odnako (Russia)
Settimanale d’informazione generale. Redattore capo: Mikhail Leont’ev. 


Traduzione di Alessandro Lattanzio (SitoAurora)

[1] Sito della MANUL.

[2] “Tortura e morte nelle carceri della Libia“, relazione Unismil, ottobre 2013.

[3] “La ‘nuova Libia’: la regione del Fezzan dichiara la sua indipendenza“, Irib, 27 settembre 2013

[4] “Ливии официально больше нет. Восток объявил “нефтяное государство” “(la Libia è ufficialmente finita, l’oriente si dichiara petro-Stato) Odnako, 7 marzo 2012.



=== 4 ===


LIBIA - MONDO

«Il paese non c'è più, ormai si è somalizzato»

TOMMASO DI FRANCESCO
11.10.2013

Intervista a Angelo Del Boca, storico del colonialismo italiano, sul sequestro del primo ministro: «È uno scontro di potere. Non sono assolutamente sorpreso». «Ali Zeidan, professore universitario magnificato da tutto l'Occidente è un uomo stranamente ricchissimo»

Per capire l'evolversi della crisi libica abbiamo intervistato Angelo Del Boca, storico del colonialismo italiano e massimo esperto internazionale della Libia.

Come giudica il sequestro da parte delle milizie armate del primo ministro libico Ali Zeidan, poi liberato?

È uno scontro di potere. Fa parte del caos nel quale la Libia è caduta dopo la guerra della Nato che ha deposto nel sangue Gheddafi. Non sono assolutamente sorpreso del sequestro. L'anno scorso, quando doveva diventare premier Anwar Fekini, figura di spicco dell'opposizione in esilio (e nipote di Mohammed Fekini protagonista della rivolta contro l'occupazioneitaliana) ho cercato di dissuaderlo. Era restio ai miei suggerimenti, ma recentemente mi ha ringraziato dicendomi: «Mi hai salvato la vita».

Che cosa è accaduto in Libia dall'uccisione di Gheddafi, nell'ottobre 2011, a oggi?

È accaduto il fenomeno della proliferazione delle milizie armate. Da stime dell'intelligence statunitense sono più di 500 e temibilissime. La stessa Casa bianca, che fornì l'aviazione a questi insorti, se n'è accorta dolorosamente l'11 settembre 2011 quando i jihadisti hanno attaccato il consolato Usa di Bengasi assassinando l'ambasciatore americano Chris Stevens e tre alti funzionari statunitensi. Tra le milizie è fortissimo il peso dei jihadisti. Così, dopo la cattura nei giorni scorsi da parte di forze speciali americane del presunto esponente di Al Qaeda, Abu Anas-Al Lybi, molto in vista nel sommovimento libico, è scattata la «risposta» delle milizie più islamiste. Che manda a dire - credibilmente - a Washington: avete fatto un arresto arbitrario, contro la nostra sovranità. Il giorno prima Zeidan aveva smentito ogni avallo di Tripoli all'operazione. Ma il segretario di stato Usa John Kerry lo ha clamorosamente smentito poche ore dopo, rivelando che il governo libico era stato consenziente. Mi piace ricordare un elemento che può far capire la commistione tra milizie e governo in Libia. Ali Zeidan, professore universitario magnificato da tutto l'Occidente è un uomo stranamente ricchissimo e solo un mese fa ha regalato un miliardo di dollari alle milizie di Misurata, considerate quelle più forti e radicali.

Si può dire che la crisi in corso in Libia è, in qualche modo, anche una crisi italiana, che cioè chiama in causa le nostre responsabilità poltiche?

Certamente. Mi spiego meglio. In questi giorni ho cercato ripetutamente di mettermi in contatto con il presidente Enrico Letta per consigliarlo. Perché Letta ha commesso in questo periodo un gravissimo errore: ha dato la disponibilità dell'Italia al presidente americano Obama che gli ha chiesto, per la vicinanza e la storia, di coinvolgersi ancora di più nella crisi libica. Come? Rimettendo in piedi esercito e polizia, ricostituendo le istituzioni e, soprattutto, «disarmando le milizie». Ma dire di sì a questa «disarmante» e sconcertante richiesta vorrebbe dire prepararsi di fatto alla terza invasione militare italiana della Libia. Perché, sempre secondo l'intelligence Usa, le più di 500 milizie corrispondono a circa 30mila uomini armati fino ai denti, con cannoni e carri armati. Un vero e proprio esercito agguerrito. Con un incessante e massiccio traffico di armi verso la destabilizzazione di aree decisive come Siria, Sinai (Egitto), nord-Mali, Tunisia e Algeria. Ma, come se non bastasse, ci sono altre due questioni, perfino più gravi, che in queste ore chiamano in causa l'Italia. In primo luogo il fatto che gli Stati uniti, di fronte alla situazione libica, hanno deciso di inviare forze speciali - già subito più di 200 marine - nella base di Sigonella. Perché su questa decisione il governo Letta-Alfano tace? Dovrebbe invece prendere posizione, perché l'intenzione statunitense è l'apertura di fatto di un fronte in Libia di guerra «coperta». Bisogna ringraziare i Paesi della Nato e gli stessi Stati uniti che con la guerra del 2011 hanno trasformato la Libia nella nuova Somalia del 1993-1994, quando venne abbandonata da truppe americane e italiane, dopo l'avventura bellica anche allora venduta come «umanitaria». Insomma, la Libia che abbiamo conosciuto non esiste più, si è «somalizzata», con l'aggravante che è una «Somalia» dall'altra parte delle nostre sponde mediterranee. E invece il presidente Letta vuole tornarci «per disarmare». 

E c'è anche il massacro di Lampedusa...

Sì, perché c'è l'altra drammatica vicenda dei migranti in fuga dalla grande Africa dell'interno, da miseria, fame, da guerre attivate per interessi occidentali su gigantesche ricchezze minerarie e fonti di energia. Proprio due giorni fa, in piena sintonia criminale con il massacro di Lampedusa, e con l'avvallo del governo italiano, lo stato maggiore italiano della Guardia di Finanza e della Guardia costiera nazionale ha firmato «un accordo con le autorità libiche» (quali?) per il pattugliamento congiunto dei porti della Libia. Viene da chiedere: con quali milizie, con quali leader jihadisti abbiamo firmato questo incredibile patto, a chi abbiamo promesso denaro italiano per fermare militarmente i disperati che fuggono con le bagnarole nel Mediterraneo?




(ovaj text na srpskohrvatskom: Од Косова до Сирије
Вишеслав Симић - професор - Ел Текнолохико де Монтереј, Мексико - 26. септембар 2013.


Višeslav Simić (Вишеслав Симић)
2do Seminario Internacional "Análisis e incidencia de las políticas públicas" - EGAP - Tecnológico de Monterrey - 25 y 26 de Septiembre 2013 - México

 

As the so-called Kosovo "war"(1) is being used by the United States of America as a blueprint(2) for how the euphemistically(3) called "international community"(4) should militarily resolve the crisis in Syria without a mandate from the U.N. (in spite of the U.S. persistently insisting that it was a sui generis case), it is becoming increasingly more important not only finally independently to study the "mob or sole assailant"(5) aspect of the contemporary U.S. international approach but, even more, to dedicate particular attention to the post- and extra-combat involvement (or the lack of it) of the "international community" in the management(6) of the territories and the people "liberated"(7) by it.

While the U.S. President announces(8) a possible attack on a sovereign nation of Syria without the authorization by the U.N., citing the precedent of Kosovo as justification for it, the U.S. Secretary of State (accused by some of being le ministre étranger aux affaires) assures U.S. citizens that rich Arab nations would foot the bill(9) (attempting to relieve concerns about the system's impending bankruptcy(10)), and a multitude of the West's "corporate intellectuals"(11) (especially the ones from the so-called La Gauche Caviar) are soothing the moral and psychological worries of its ever-conscientious public, there are legitimate and reliable voices who give us different points of view about this issue, from the warnings to the U.S. leaders that aiding a declared enemy(12) of the U.S. would be treason(13), that Syria's socialist secular economic/political system(14) is the main problem for both the neo-liberal West and the reactionary, fundamentalist Islamist Arab regimes, to those that the so-called opposition in Syria are "a bunch of criminals" and not "revolutionaries."(15)

Just a part of this list of concerns should create a grave apprehensiveness about the "international community's" capacity to act in Syria militarily, but even more about its competence to be the leader of the supposed post-conflict stabilization and reconstruction. Taking into consideration the "international community's" aggressive and criminal March 1999 record in Serbia, November 2001 in Afghanistan, March 2003 in Iraq, and March 2011 in Libya, its involvement, and especially the U.S. leadership role, should be extremely questionable(16).

It is certain that the U.S. global position was dominant in the post-Soviet period, and that the phrase "international community" became synonymous with the U.S.—the main formulator of what were dogmatically(17) believed to be liberal(18) privatization-centered(19) pro-democratization and economic growth policies during the 1990s and the early 21st century. Yet, as these policies' truthfulness and efficacy became increasingly questioned and challenged(20), due to their failures and catastrophic consequences in practice(21), and as the U.S. increasingly turned into a defender against charges of imperialism and aggression(22), and a coercer of unwilling allies(23) into arrogant violations of international law(24) than it remained a leader of any true community of states, great questioning(25), strong confirmations(26), and new understandings and opinions(27) of the term "international community" appeared.

Although there had been a few U.N. missions in the disputed/non-sovereign territories before the Kosovo mission was established, the fact is that all of them were initiated properly in the U.N., and implemented by it, including military forces of various member states, that willingly lent them, working in close cooperation with the world organization.

Kosovo was a crucial turning point and the precedent that nullified the old rules by force, without establishing any clear and agreed upon new ones for the future.

As the Kosovo precedent allowed for the creation of new states, such as Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and for the establishment of new "international communities", who justified and implemented such acts, it became obvious that a trend is being set and that the organization of the United Nations is increasingly either serving the purposes of one of the "international communities", or that it is being ignored by either of the "international communities"(28) or by all of them(29). The multitude of the small states for decades has been pointing out the fact that they are not even considered by the "international community" if they disagree with its policies, or are used to shore up its "moral imperative" when they do, but their plight is not as important in the "realpolitik" world as the latest warnings by one of the greatest powers—China—about the "improper comments in the name of the 'international community'"(30) by some Western politicians.

Although there are some Western intellectuals(31) and popular commentators(32) who point this out, a blindness to these facts, and a dogmatic, quasi-religious faith in the only true "international community" is very noticeable in the so-called West—not only among its political classes but in academia as well, where it should be happening the least, especially taking into consideration the plenitude of analysis of international politics(33).

The pattern has already become a common place: a regime is declared "rogue" for not accepting the "international community's" dictates and not opening its economy for a neo-liberal takeover, and an adequate "endangered" minority is designated a victim within the "rogue" regime's borders, and the minority's criminal sub-population is trained and equipped to be the "legitimate and justified" opposition to the regime and the future "guarantor of democracy and economic development" of the "liberated" nation, and an ally in mutually beneficial money laundering operations(34). Then, cases of "human rights violations" are exaggerated or, if necessary, fabricated, and an insurrection by the "democratic, free-market oriented, and Westernized and moderate" guerrilla is legitimized, and a "red line" is drawn, after which a military intervention by the "morally indignant" "international community" becomes a must in order to save face and show the world its dedication to peace and international cooperation.

The "international community's" interests in the Middle East are obvious: preventing China from obtaining cheap oil for its economic growth and military development; getting closer to Russia's "soft southern belly", and increasing the possibility of destabilizing the E.U. through strong control and manipulation of its Moslem population, making the "allies" long term dependant on the "international community".

With Kosovo, it was not so obviously clear why the "international community" got so deeply and expensively involved in that oil-deprived region(35). Although the territory known as Kosovo is a landlocked, economically undeveloped, and socially backward land of 10,887 sq. km.(36), populated by anywhere between 1.5 to 2 million people(37), it is of a significant geo-political and strategic importance. 
Its position at the ancient surface crossroads—Via Militaris and Via Egnatia(38)—was made very obvious by the placement of the U.S. military base Bondsteel near that crucial intersection of the roads that connect Europe and Asia. Taking into consideration that the planned American-backed "Nabucco"(39) pipeline, as well as the Russian natural gas and oil pipeline, "Southern Stream"(40), were to pass through that area, supplying Europe with Russian and former Soviet Central Asian states' oil and gas, the geostrategic importance of Kosovo becomes more prominent.

The post-intervention international administration of a territory "liberated" by the "international community" brings many advantages both to the allied governments and the private businesses from the "cooperative" nations.

The case of Kosovo is an excellent example: it has been declared an investor's dream and a venture capitalist's heaven(41) by its new rulers.(42) Its labor market offers one of the cheapest labor forces in the world. With official unemployment rates in Kosovo reaching 50%(43), once the means of production are secured(44), and access to global markets are guaranteed, the investors will be attracted to the profit-making opportunities unparalleled in the developed world.

At the same time, the natural resources of Kosovo are legendary–according to the World Bank(45), 13.5 billion Euros are laying there, waiting for investors brave enough to acquire them: the richest lignite reserves in South Eastern Europe, which provide for a powerful electricity production for the whole region, as well as abundant reserves of zinc, cadmium, magnesium, kaolin, quartz, asbestos, chrome, bauxite, and lead(46), along with silver and gold–all of that under the watchful eye of the "international community"(47), eager to help set it to production and profit.
Yet, there are overwhelming problems and obstacles to that. They range from linguistic, through socio-cultural, historical and political, to legal—especially in terms of property law.

Thus, understanding the meaning and history of the names in Kosovo is only the beginning of the difficulties related to such problems.

The official and full name of the territory is Kosovo and Metohija. The land was always (as it still is today) known as Old Serbia(48) as well. Kosovo, just as Metohija did, emerged as a symbol, a reminder, a warning, and was almost accidentally used as a territorial designation only by the end of WWII, by the Communist party of Yugoslavia.

The word Metohija remains as another reminder, a public declaration by the rightful owner that the theft hasn't been forgotten, and as a subtle warning that order and justice shall be restored. That is why all false claimants to the land have insisted on the elimination of the word Metohija from the land's name.

Kosovo, as a word, means something only in the Serbian language(49)—the possessive adjective of the word kos, the American robin, a black bird, turdus merula, that flies in the skies over the famous battlefield of 1389(50).

The meaning of Metohija is clear and recognized easily by the Orthodox Christians. Being of Greek origin (μετόχια), the word is a legal and official term used to demarcate the earthly possessions of the Orthodox Church, in this case of the Serbian Orthodox Church.

It is very common in the West to dismiss all factually supported Serbian historical claims to Kosovo, while the most incredible, evidence-less Albanian claims to the antiquity of their possession and presence in the same territory are accepted as valid. Very often a question is asked by independent and reasonable observers how far back in time should the "international community" go, and what kind of mythical or spectral evidence(51) would be acceptable to lay a claim so that the matter could be settled. The situation is very similar to the one in Palestine at the time of the Jewish resettlement there, when the famous British writer H. G. Wells said: "If it is proper to 'reconstitute' a Jewish state which has not existed for two thousand years, why not go back another thousand years and reconstitute the Canaanite state?"(52)

Yet, Kosovo and Metohija became an official U.N. Protectorate, with NATO as the power that guarantees it remains so for the time being. Although the Albanians declared independence in 2008 and the "international community" recognized its "sovereignty"(53), it is still NATO that has the final authority there(54), along with the U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary General. Simultaneously, the U.N. Security Council Resolution 1244 guarantees the territorial integrity of Serbia, although some of the powers that voted for that resolution, in a paradoxical bipolar opposition to themselves, recognized the self-declared independent Republic of Kosovo. 
A matter of great interest for the scholars of international law and politics, and international management of territories and peoples, should be the evolution of the post-"liberation" fate of the leaders of the territories under "international community's" control, especially the speed and the degree of the degradation of their status and life. 
Slobodan Milošević, the leader of Serbia, was captured and put on a long-term trial by a special "international community's" tribunal(55), which terminated in his highly suspicious death after it became increasingly obvious that the evidence necessary for his conviction was not going to materialize. 
In Afghanistan, the Taliban were simply scattered and replaced by a puppet government, which still fully depends on the U.S. occupying forces in the country. Saddam Hussein, the leader of Iraq, was also chased away from his seat of power, and later captured and put on trial, but not by an international tribunal. The experience with Milošević most certainly taught the "international community" the risks of exposing its own alleged crimes before the increasingly judgmental world. The Iraqi court expressly found him guilty and he was executed by hanging, giving the impression that no appeal was permitted, or a chance for a pardon either. 
Libya's Moammar Gadhafi experienced no official capture or trial. The democratic and freedom-loving "opposition" to his regime was allowed by the "international community" to hunt him down like a wild animal and his slaughtering was filmed and widely distributed on the internet. A U.S. apparatchik to the new friendly and allied regime of Libya was murdered in a very similar manner a few months later. Then, the "international community" expressed an absolute outrage at the shocking and brutal treatment of a human being by the, now-legitimized, subject of international affairs.
The "post-conflict" status of the 'liberated" territories also differs significantly:
Kosovo seems to have been the experiment that set too high the bar for the future, causing extraordinary complications and embarrassing need for legal and moral "creativity". Following its lessons, a degradation and de-internationalization of the status of any new territory whose sovereignty(56) was altered has become noticeable. There has happened a lowering and limiting of the prerogatives of the "governor" in the field, and, with each new case, a gradual elimination of a significant portion of the U.N. membership from the pool of legal international subjects with a right to be involved in the governing and/or supervision of the territory.
In Kosovo, it was still the Secretary General of the U.N. (through his Special Representative) who was the highest civilian authority in the official U.N. protectorate(57), although the NATO military commander on the ground was the highest authority "in the theater", with a right to declare anything or anyone of "military significance" so as to grant himself the power to outrank the civilian authority of the U.N. at any time.
In Afghanistan, "full sovereignty" was gradually "restored" to the local government after the U.S.-lead international invasion and occupation of the land, and after the U.N. Security Council post factum established the International Security Assistance Force. The U.N. Assistance Force's mandate was to oversee the security in the country, but the Afghan "authorities" couldn't move freely even within the capital without full military escort by the mostly NATO troops, while the provinces were the realm of local warlords and, almost exclusively, of U.S. military commanders, who had most of the U.S. troops under their direct and separate command. 
In Iraq, the U.S. attacked that sovereign U.N. member without a declaration of war and invaded its territory under what was later proven to be a false pretext. After a quick military conquest, the country was occupied by U.S. troops. A "sovereign" puppet government was established, but the U.S. military was in charge of the land. The U.N. Security Council then established a mission in Iraq, which recognized "the responsibilities and obligations" of the U.S. occupying force, giving legitimacy to the illegal and criminal invasion of a sovereign member of the U.N. The Mission still supervises the work of the Iraqi government. The U.S. military combat operations and occupation of Iraq were officially declared finished by the end of August 2010, but U.S. troops still remain in Iraq (under separate U.S. command), together with the troops from other nations, which are under U.N. command.
In Libya, there was neither a U.N. mission set up after its destruction by NATO, nor was there an occupation of any kind by the "international community's" military forces. The early 2011 conflict was declared a civil war, in which the "rebels" refused all attempts, both by their government and by the African Union, to stop fighting. The "international community" secured a U.N. Security Council resolution (1973), which was to protect civilians and which allowed the use of force against the government of Libya, but did not allow a foreign occupation of the country. The "international community", led by the U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, secured the supply of arms to the rebels. The Resolution stated that in order to "protect civilians" "all necessary measures" were allowed, thus, the supply of arms was unilaterally declared permitted in spite of the arms embargo imposed on "everyone" in Libya (Paragraph 9). The French Air Force bombarded the government troops, as did the U.S. and U.K. submarines. Soon, 17 countries participated in the military operations against the government of Libya, with NATO taking over the command of the operations. The "international community" thus became the air force of the rebels, providing them with some ground troops as well, violating its own U.N. resolution and not allowing for a negotiated settlement of the conflict. After the rebels took over the capital city of Tripoli, the U.N. recognized them as the legitimate government of Libya. An ad hoc local government, the National Transitional Council, was set up and recognized by the "international community" and left in power to run the country as it saw fit, as long as the oil exploitation was opened to the corporations from the "international community's" realm—the Chinese and Russian companies were not allowed in the competition in the "free market" and "globalized economy" (just as they were kept out and away by the U.S. occupying authorities from the once open-to-international-competition oil fields of Iraq).
The U.N. Protectorate of Kosovo has proven itself to be the "international community's" experiment that set the standard for the amount of sovereignty which were to be accorded the inhabitants under the "international community's" domination—none!
Thus, the sovereignty over the territory of Kosovo was altered and the whole international system thrown into a disarray. The overlapping and cancelling-out of sovereignties is blatant: the United Nations Resolution 1244 (which is still in effect and is recognized even by the powers(58) that officially recognized Serbia's Albanian minority's self-declaration of independence) recognizes the sovereignty of the Republic of Serbia over the territory of Kosovo(59). So does, of course, the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia(60). At the same time, Serbia's Albanian Moslem minority in the Province of Kosovo and Metohija had declared the province's independence from Serbia and claimed sovereignty over the territory, calling it the Republic of Kosova. It has been officially recognized by the U.S. and many of the individual great powers, which are members of the European Union, although the international organization called the European Union itself has not recognized the self-declared independent Republic of Kosovo, and works closely with the U.N. on administering the Serbian province as a U.N. protectorate(61). Simultaneously to all this, the Constitution of the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo, by its articles 147 and 153, clearly renounces its own sovereignty and states that the final authorities in Kosovo are the U.N. civilian administrator and NATO military force commander, making those who command NATO the ultimate sovereigns over Kosovo(62).

The "international community" did the same thing, which it did in the previously legally established U.N. protectorates, and in the many historical instances before the current supposed internationalization of protectorates—the "international community" ensured its own fiat(63) to be the legal basis and norm for any activity.
The first U.N. protectorate, an innovative and an ad hoc approach to resolving international problems insolvable by the then-current international law, was the U.N. Temporary Executive Authority (UNTEA)/U.N. Security Force in West New Guinea (UNSF), established in October 1962(64) in order to administer the Dutch colony of West New Guinea until it was transformed into a province of Indonesia on May 1, 1963. 
The following one was established in February 1992 for Cambodia, as the U.N. Transitional Authority in Cambodia (UNTAC), in order to implement the Paris Accords, which ended the civil war in that country. The U.N. was not to have direct control of the country but was supposed, during the 18 months of its mandate, to foster "a neutral political environment conducive to free and fair general elections"(65). It was the most extensive and costliest U.N. operation up to that time.
On December 21, 1995(66), the U.N. International Police Task Force (IPTF) and a U.N. civilian office in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BH) were established, known as the U.N. Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH). It was terminated on Dec. 31, 2002. It invented a new supra-sovereign office—The High Representative for Bosnia and Herzegovina (on December 14, 1995)—by the Peace Implementation Council(67). It was not a U.N. mission. SFOR, a NATO-led multinational peacekeeping force in BH, was established by the U.N. S.C. Res. 1088, on Dec. 12, 1996, and it lasted until Dec. 2, 2004. It was replaced by the E.U. EUFOR Althea mission, which is still in BH, as is the High Representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina, who still possesses his supra-sovereign powers and is the final authority in that supposedly sovereign nation.
The U.N. S.C. Resolution 1037 (Jan. 15, 1996) established the U.N. Transitional Administration for Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium (UNTAES) to monitor the demilitarization of these regions and to ensure the peaceful reintegration of these territories of the Republic of Serbian Krajina into Croatia. It ended on Jan. 15, 1998, after allowing the new country of Croatia to take over these, formerly Serb-majority but then Croat- and NATO-ethnically cleansed, lands. Eventually, the newly sovereign Croatia was fully integrated into NATO (2009) and E.U. (2013), thus firmly and unquestionably putting these territories under the "international community's" control. 
In 1999, the "international community" established its most ambitious and authoritative grasp on a territory—the U.N. Protectorate of Kosovo. 
The U.N. administration took upon itself the public policy mission, traditionally reserved for a sovereign state alone, to make local laws and to enforce them, to appoint and supervise local officials, to collect and manage local revenue, to run local educational, health and other social services, to supervise the economy and finances, and even to decide in the disputes related to the very basis of any society—property matters.
The most illustrative example of the “international community’s” incompetence and, if the criteria used for ordinary people were applied to it, all out criminality, is exactly this area of public policy¬—privatization. Contrary to its U.N. S.C. mandate, the U.N. Administration of the Serbian province designed and partially implemented a public policy of privatization of the socially owned property there. It was very clear that such a policy could not be implemented(68) as the “international community” wished it, due to its basic illegality(69). The province’s chief U.N. administrator, Soren Jessen-Petersen, on April 22, 2005 (UNMIK Regulation No. 2005/18), simply decreed a fundamental change in UNMIK rules(70) and property law(71) (undocumented in human history, except during conquests and pillages of ages past), providing for the privatization agency to make “clear and final ownership determination after a sale of assets” and not before it, as has been the practice throughout human history. Although Mr. Jessen-Petersen gladly announced that “now with this change… we no longer have to establish ownership before the sale of the socially owned enterprise”(72), the process of privatization in Kosovo has been disastrous. Not even the local criminals wanted to participate in it since it didn’t provide them with a clear and legal title to the property. There are many accusations that through the process of privatization they laundered the illegally earned funds. Knowing that such practice would create legal problems(73) for the U.N. staff in both the field and in the New York City headquarters, the U.N. ensured its employees’ immunity(74) from legal prosecution but the local Albanians were left to the mercies of “the market”-causing a number of highly suspicious deaths(75) of both high level officials in Kosovo and key witnesses in Western countries over the last couple of years, all of which were ruled suicides(76) by EULEX and Western medical examiners.
This extent of legislative, executive and judicial authority, exercised with basically no scrutiny by anyone, with no supervision by independent monitors, and with no accountability to any single or collective sovereignty (especially that of the local population(77)) is substantially higher than that which the colonial governors had in the past, and which were the main reasons why the colonized peoples fought wars of liberation. It was expected, even by analysts from the "international community", that even the most "benign" protectorate of this kind would eventually turn itself into an "oppressor-ate" that would be hated by the population it was established to protect in the first place. 
Yet, there are no open anti-U.N. movements in Kosovo. It seems that while the ethnic cleansing of its Serbian citizens is yet unfinished, and while the lucrative and unmolested businesses of human trafficking, drugs and arms smuggling, and "privatization" of the Serbian state, social, Church and private property are still underway, there is no rush to end the unnatural and contradictory parallel existence (but a long-term partnership and symbiosis) of "local sovereignty" and "international community's" protectorate there.
Yet, this unnatural symbiosis only seems to be lucrative to those with a short-term vision and with a superficial understanding of economy and politics. 
An interesting testimony of the development falsehood was, most likely unintentionally, offered by a German KFOR Colonel, Günter Bonn, published by Politika, and reported by an ethnic Slovenian military analyst, Miroslav Lazanski, in a report on his visit to the U.S. (KFOR) base Bondsteel in Kosovo. It says: "There is no industry here, no production. Only gas stations are being opened, shopping centers and night clubs."(78) The Colonel is reported to have openly wondered from where all the wealth in Kosovo was coming, comparing the apparent high-life style of the Kosovo Albanians to his modest life in the highly industrialized (and yet only second tier international community's member) Germany, especially considering his socio-economic status as a high level military officer of the military forces of the only stable and growing E.U. economy. Aware that he drives a small car there (in Germany), and doesn't own a house there, the new, big homes, daily built in Kosovo, and new, expensive cars driven on the same roads he patrols in a military jeep, make him wonder how surreal is his task of making sure that there wouldn't be any more suffering in the U.N. Protectorate of Kosovo.(79)
In addition to that, it is the "international community" that very quickly realized the true pitfalls of such an arrangement, and the long-term dangers to its control and welfare. The U.N. Protectorate of Kosovo, being under the formal legal authority of the U.N. Security Council, could not be controlled, modified, or terminated without Russia and/or China. Both powers were unable to prevent its establishment in 1999, but, since then they have grown and strengthened their international positions, creating a parallel and highly visible alternative "international community", and have created unforeseen problems for the U.S. and its allies in Kosovo (and in other parts of the world), especially regarding the public policy of privatization designed and attempted to be implemented there by the "international community".
The Protectorate of Kosovo was most likely designed as the ultimate triumph of the West, but it quickly turned into its most problematic product. With Russia and China sitting on the U.N. Security Council, with their veto powers, it proved impractical to set Kosovo as a blueprint for future invasions, takeovers and management of lands, peoples and resources, and, thus, all evidence suggests, it was forgone as a model. 
Ever since, we have witnessed the abandonment of the U.N. or truly international models of behavior by the "international community", observing the increased acting either unilaterally (the U.S. in Iraq) or as a group of military allies (NATO in Libya), with very limited and vague authorization by the U.N., or with none at all. 
It is worth remembering that already in 1996, in Buenos Aires, Michel Camdessus, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, officially announced that a "silent revolution" was taking place, and that "as regards the role of the state, it is now nearly universally accepted that the most effective economic strategies are private sector-led and outward-oriented"(80), and that "governments must demonstrate that they have no tolerance for corruption". Yet, it seems that the "international community" in the end, after its post-Kosovo experience, decided that it is much easier and more profitable to avoid the (semi-)state and its many layers of corrupt officials all together, and to let the West's private sector(81) (backed up by NATO) deal directly with the warlords(82) in the resources rich territories, whose sovereignty was altered, allowing certain allies in(83), and securely eliminating Russian and Chinese competition(84).
Although the 1989 informal Washington Consensus by the West's economic thinkers has been replaced by the 2010 G20 formally endorsed Seoul Consensus for "shared growth"(85), it seems that the "international community" has decided to undermine the Consensus' main goal of greater state intervention in economy and finances by simply eliminating the state from the equation and continuing with the old mantra of "stabilize, privatize, and liberalize"(86)—having already initiated that policy in Kosovo, and persisted with it in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Libya, attempting to press on with it in Syria today.
For the end, another reminder: The New York Observer warned, in 2007, "The smart money these days is in catastrophe: Hurricanes, tsunamis, political upheavals and wars have become the new profit points in the age of 'disaster capitalism,' which sees cataclysms 'as exciting market opportunities.'”(87)

Višeslav Simić (Вишеслав Симић)
2do Seminario Internacional "Análisis e incidencia de las políticas públicas" - EGAP - Tecnológico de Monterrey - 25 y 26 de Septiembre 2013 - México


Footnotes:


1. Strictly legally speaking, no war was declared by the aggressors (the U.S. called it "hostilities" and "military operations in Kosovo"). The government of the attacked sovereign founding member of the U.N. didn't denounce the aggression as war (only after the November 2012 Strasbourg Court ruling that "war veterans" must be paid for the time served in the "war of 1999" did Serbia implicitly recognize NATO aggression as a war). The U.N. itself kept silent about the grossest violation of its Charter since its founding (the silence forced upon the U.N. by the U.S. blocking any move in the U.N. Security Council to condemn the attacks or to order their cessation).

2. Air War in Kosovo Seen as Precedent in Possible Response to Syria Chemical Attack; Landler, Mark and Gordon, Michael; The New York Times; August 23, 2013- http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/world/air-war-in-kosovo-seen-as-precedent-in-possible-response-to-syria-chemical-attack.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2&

3. If asked what the priority in today's world would be, Confucius would most likely repeat what he said about 2500 years ago: "'What is necessary is to rectify names.' […] 'If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried on to success.' […] 'Therefore a superior man considers it necessary that the names he uses may be spoken appropriately, and also that what he speaks may be carried out appropriately. What the superior man requires is just that in his words there may be nothing incorrect.'"-The Analects of Confucius; The Chinese Classics; Translated by James Legge; Book XIII, Chap. III, 2-7; Kindle location 625-626.

4. "To the extent that there is such a thing as an international community, it owes much to NATO." - Norris, John; Collision Course: NATO, Russia, and Kosovo; Greenwood Publishing Group, Preager, NY; 2005; Forward by Strobe Talbott; page ix.

5. ”The Democrats prefer allied lynch mobs, whereas the Republicans are more willing to intervene without outside help. The difference is basically the same. At the end of the day, both Democrats and Republicans remain committed to the same "values" of forcing political change on foreign regimes.” - Deliso, Christopher; Kosovo, 1999: An Insider’s View; June 17, 2005 - http://antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=6338

6. "...To put it in a terminology that harkens back to the more brutal age of ancient empires, the three grand imperatives of imperial (American-ed.) geostrategy are to prevent collusion and maintain security dependence among the vassals, to keep tributaries pliant and protected, and to keep the barbarians from coming together." - Brzezinski, Zbigniew; The Grand Chessboard: American Primacy And Its Geostrategic Imperatives; Basic Books; New York; 1997; p. 40.

7. See: The Iraq Liberation Act of 1998 [http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c105:H.R.4655.ENR:], or George, Amir; Liberating Iraq: The Untold Story of the Assyrian Christians; Cardinal Publishing Group; 2013, or Crucified Kosovo [http://crucified-kosovo.webs.com/], or Redmond, Helen; Their empty talk of liberating Afghan women; SocialistWorker.org; March 23, 2011- http://socialistworker.org/2011/03/23/empty-talk-about-liberation

8. Air War in Kosovo Seen as Precedent in Possible Response to Syria Chemical Attack; The New York Times; Aug. 23, 2013 - http://www.nytimes.com/2013/08/24/world/air-war-in-kosovo-seen-as-precedent-in-possible-response-to-syria-chemical-attack.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

9. Arab nations ready to pay for Syria strike: Kerry - The News; Sept. 6, 2013 - http://www.thenews.com.pk/Todays-News-13-25265-Arab-nations-ready-to-pay-for-Syria-strike-Kerry

10. Just as Standard & Poor's and Moody's maintained the illusion of Lehman Brothers' solidity up to six and one day respectively, before its collapse in 2008, it seems that it is being done for the whole West's financial system these days. See also: US borrowing authority to be exhausted by Oct. 17; AP - http://news.yahoo.com/us-borrowing-authority-exhausted-oct-17-151054701--finance.html

11. Such as the ever-ready Frenchman Bernanrd-Henri Lévy, calling the other international community—the governments who actually respect the international law and the U.N. rules—"gangster states, led by their godfather, Russia". See: ¿Qué quiere Rusia?; El Pais, Sept. 2, 2013 - http://elpais.com/elpais/2013/08/29/opinion/1377787206_916631.html

12. Syria: nearly half rebel fighters are jihadists or hardline Islamists, says IHS Jane's report [by analyst Charles Lister]; by Ben Farmer, defence Correspondent, and Ruth Sherlock, in Beirut; The Telegraph; Sept. 15, 2013 - http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/middleeast/syria/10311007/Syria-nearly-half-rebel-fighters-are-jihadists-or-hardline-Islamists-says-IHS-Janes-report.html
13. "Whoever, owing allegiance to the United States, levies war against them or adheres to their enemies, giving them aid and comfort within the United States or elsewhere, is guilty of treason and shall suffer death, or shall be imprisoned not less than five years and fined under this title but not less than $10,000; and shall be incapable of holding any office under the United States."-18 USC § 2381 - Treason - http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2381

14. "We trouble the West and the extremists because we are a socialist country." - Syrian ambassador to Serbia, H.E. Suleiman Abu-Dijab to V. Radojević; in an interview for the Communist Party of Serbia on Sept. 3, 2013, in Belgrade, Serbia - http://www.kps.rs/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1136:intervju-ambasadora-sirije-u-beogradu-gospodin-sulejmana-abu-dijab&catid=65&Itemid=574

15. "[The West calls it] a revolution, but in fact it has nothing to do with revolutions. A revolution needs thinkers. A revolution is built on thought. Where are their thinkers? A revolution needs leaders. Who is its leader? Revolutions are built on science and thought not on ignorance, on pushing the country ahead not taking it centuries back, on spreading light not cutting power lines. A revolution is usually done by the people not by importing foreigners to rebel against the people. A revolution is in the interest of people not against the interests of people. Is this a revolution? Are those revolutionaries? They are a bunch of criminals." - Syria's President Bashar al-Assad; Damascus; June 1, 2013.

16. Although these words were written with a different context in mind, they seem prophetic: “Every friend of freedom must be as revolted as I am by the prospect of turning the United States into an armed camp, by the vision of jails filled […] and of an army […] empowered to invade the liberty of citizens on slight evidence.” - Milton Friedman; An Open Letter to Bill Bennett; The Wall Street Journal; September 7, 1989 - http://fff.org/explore-freedom/article/open-letter-bill-bennett/

17. "Today we see how utterly mistaken was the Milton Friedman notion that a market system can regulate itself. We see how silly the Ronald Reagan slogan was that government is the problem, not the solution. This prevailing ideology of the last few decades has now been reversed." - Samuelson, Paul (Nobel Prize in Economics, 1970); Don't Expect Recovery Before 2012 - With 8% Inflation; Global Economic Viewpoint; January 16, 2009 - http://www.digitalnpq.org/articles/economic/331/01-16-2009/paul_samuelson

18. ”Milton Friedman is the Establishment’s Court Libertarian.” - Rothbard, Murray N.; Milton Friedman Unraveled; Journal of Libertarian Studies; Vol. 16, no. 4 (Fall 2002); pp. 37-54 - http://mises.org/journals/jls/16_4/16_4_3.pdf

19. "It turns out that the rule of law is probably more basic than privatization. Privatization is meaningless if you don’t have the rule of law. What does it mean to privatize if you do not have security of property, if you can’t use your property as you want to?" - Milton Friedman. See: Gwarney, James and Lawson, Robert; Economic Freedom of the World: 2002 Annual Report; Preface: Economic Freedom behind the Scenes, by Milton Friedman; The Fraser Institute; Vancouver, B.C.; 2002; page xviii.

20. Boas, Taylor C & Gans-Morse Jordan; Neoliberalism: From New Liberal Philosophy to Anti-Liberal Slogan [http://people.bu.edu/tboas/neoliberalism.pdf]; Harvey, David; Neoliberalism as Creative Destruction; The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science [http://ann.sagepub.com/content/610/1/21.abstract]; Weyland, Kurt Gerhard; Assessing Latin American Neoliberalism: Introduction to a Debate; Latin American Research Review; Vol. 39, Number 3, 2004; pp. 143-149.

21. See: The Neoliberal Deluge-Hurricane Katrina, Late Capitalism, and the Remaking of New Orleans; Cedric Johnson, editor; 2011; University of Minnesota Press; Minneapolis; or, Klein, Naomi; The Shock Doctrine-The Rise of Disaster Capitalism; Henry Holt & Co.; New York; 2008; or, Saltman, Kenneth J.; Schooling in Disaster Capitalism; Teacher Educational Quarterly; Spring 2007; pp. 131-156.

22. Watts, Carl P; Is globalization another name for US imperialism?; Politics Review Online; Vol. 20, No. 3 (Feb. 2011).

23. Outrage at 'old Europe' remarks; BBC News; January 23, 2003- http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/2687403.stm

24. Pritchard, Claire; Who Cares if We Violate the Geneva Convention?; Chicago Policy Review; May 31, 2013- http://chicagopolicyreview.org/2013/05/31/who-cares-if-we-violate-the-geneva-convention/

25. Golub, Philip S; Conflict in the Balkans: An International Community?; Le Monde Diplomatique; June 1999- http://mondediplo.com/1999/06/06golub

26. "The international community does exist. It has an address. It has achievements to its credit. And it is the only way forward."-U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan; The Address to the 52nd DPI/NGO Conference in New York City; September 15, 1999- http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/1999/19990915.sgsm7133.doc.html

27. Ralph, Jason; Tony Blair's 'new doctrine of international community' and the UK decision to invade Iraq; POLIS Working Paper No. 20; School of Politics & International Studies; August 2005- http://www.polis.leeds.ac.uk/assets/files/research/working-papers/wp20ralph.pdf

28. Created ad hoc after the declarations of independence by Abkhazia and South Ossetia and their subsequent international recognition by Russia, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Nauru, Vanuatu, Tuvalu (although Vanuatu, in a horribly embarrassing manner, later withdrew it).

29. As in the case of Russia and the other states recognizing Abkhazia and South Ossetia, and in the case of the NATO states' attack on and destruction of Libya, which went far beyond the U.N. mandate of ensuring a no-fly zone over the territory of that member of the U.N.

30. "Since the Industrial Revolution in Britain, the self-centered way of thinking that long formed in Western powers has been swelling with the constantly consolidated powers. One of the performances is that some Western politicians often make improper comments in the name of 'international community' when they talk about the international affairs or in the Western media reports. In their eyes, they are the 'international community'" - How the world opinion is kidnapped by West's "international community" rhetoric; People's Daily Online; September 1, 2013- http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90777/7932499.html

31. See: Letter by Adolfo Pérez Esquivel to Barack Obama (accessed on Sept. 8, 2013)- http://www.democraticunderground.com/10023621013

32. "When you next hear the term, what is being referred to is not the international community at all - understood as all the nation-states that make up the world - but just a small sliver of it, our bit. The great majority of the world, indeed - the west constitutes less than one-fifth of the world's population - is, in fact, being tacitly ignored: unless, of course, it happens to agree with the west, in which case it is implicitly tagged on the end as a good old western fellow-traveler."-Jacques, Martin; What the hell is the international community?; The Guardian; Aug. 24, 2006 -http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2006/aug/24/whatthehellistheinternati

33. Modelski, George (Jerzy), Long Cycles in World Politics, University of Washington Press, 1987; Bull, Hedley, The Anarchical Society: A Study of Order in World Politics, Columbia University Press, 2002; Georg Schwarzenberger, International Law, Stevens, 1949; Juraj Andrassy, International Law, Školska knjiga, Zagreb, 2010.

34. Documented widely, from The Contras, Cocaine, and Covert Operations [http://www2.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB2/nsaebb2.htm], through Albanian Mobsters: Albanian Mafia, Rudaj Organization, Princ Dobroshi, Ismail Lika [http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/albanian-mobsters-books-llc/1103425185?ean=9781158328673], to Syrian Rebels Funded by Afghan Drug Sales [http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130411/180581557.html]

35. "It was Yugoslavia's resistance of the broader trends of political and economic reform--not the plight of the Kosovar Albanians--that best explains NATO's war." - Norris, John; Collision Course: NATO, Russia, and Kosovo; Greenwood Publishing Group, Preager, NY; 2005; p. xxiii.

36. Smaller than the Sea of Marmara (11,350 sq. km.), between the Bosphorus and the Dardanelles straights in Turkey, the U.S. state of Connecticut (14,357 sq. km.), or the U.K. county of Yorkshire (11,903 sq. km.), about half the size of the State of Mexico and a bit smaller than the State of Queretaro.

37. Reliable and complete census data haven't been available for Kosovo and Metohija for at least three decades.

38. See: Külzer, Andreas; The Byzantine road system in Eastern Thrace; 4th International Symposium on Thracian Studies, April 2007; Verlag Adolf M. Hakkert; Amsterdam; 2011., or: Tafel, Gottlieb L. F.; Via Militaris & Egnatia; 1841; Columbia University Libraries, Preservation Department; Master negative #: 91-80058-10; - http:// ia600804.us.archive.org/6/items/viamilitarisroma00tafe/viamilitarisroma00tafe.pdf

39. The "Nabucco" pipeline project was aborted in the summer of 2013. - https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2013/07/13/nabu-j13.html

40. http://www.south-stream.info/en/pipeline/route/

41. Untrue, as the still non-existent economy shows, just as in Libya today, in spite of the positive propaganda about its "anticipated boom in natural resources". - See: Cockburn, Patrick; Special report: We all thought Libya had moved on - it has, but into lawlessness and ruin; The Independent; September 3, 2013 - (accessed on Sept. 8, 2013) http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/special-report-we-all-thought-libya-had-moved-on--it-has-but-into-lawlessness-and-ruin-8797041.html

42. "Invest in Kosovo. Ignite your success!" - Publication by the Investment Promotion Agency of Kosovo; Ministry of Trade and Industry; March 22, 2013 - http://www.bitkom.org/files/documents/IPAK__PPT_General_22_03_13.pdf

43. http://www.indexmundi.com/kosovo/unemployment_rate.html

44. And the U.N.'s Mission in Kosovo Privatization Policy made it easier than anywhere else in the world–means of production and real estate may be bought disregarding their deeds.

45. “Kosova [Kosovo] mine [mineral] resources are worthy of 13.5 billion Euros, according to a joint survey conducted by the Directorate for Mines and Minerals and the World Bank.” - http://kosovareport.blogspot.com/2005/01/world-bank-survey-puts-kosovos-mineral.html

46. Vickers, Miranda; Between Serb and Albanian-A History of Kosovo; Columbia University Press; 1988; page XV.

47. George Soros, a billionaire financier/amateur politician, eager to acquire the Trepča mines [http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/Johnstone/howitis.htm], vying for it with H.R.H. Prince Michael of Kent, according to the Kosovo Privatization Agency Director Shkelzen Luka [as reported by www.economy.rs/vesti/18697/Kosovo--Vojvodina-izgradila--Princ-od-Kenta-dobija-na-poklon.html]. Madeleine Albright, U.S. Secretary of State at the time of NATO war on Yugoslavia, is contending for mobile phones and internet opportunities in Kosovo [http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/11/world/europe/ex-us-official-pulls-bid-for-kosovo-telecom-stake.html?_r=0], while Wesley Clark, the Supreme Commander of NATO during the "Madeleine's War" in 1999, is "seeking a license to explore Kosovo's underground coal deposits to use to make synthetic fuel for cars and planes." [Marketplace; Oct. 26, 2012- http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/wesley-clark-puts-name-behind-kosovo-coal-project]

48. "[It] also included the Serbian province of Sandzak and the northwestern part of today's Macedonia." - See: Joksimovich, Vojin Ph.D.; Kosovo is Serbia; gmbooks.com - http://www.gmbooks.com/product/Kosovo-GM.html

49. "Proof of the Serbian origin of the name and the loanword status of the immigrant Albanian term is that the word "kosovo" has a clear etymology to anyone who knows a Slavic language, while Albanian "Kosova" is an opaque, meaningless place name in the Albanian language." - Maher, J. P.; Professor of Linguistics, Emeritus; Northeastern Illinois University; "Kosova" or "Kosovo"? - What's in a Name?; http://emperor.vwh.net/articles/JP%20maher/InAname.html

50. Although many scholars in the West publish linguistically baseless claims that the word is of "Turkish-Albanian origin", in spite of the fact that it doesn't have any meaning at all in either of them. See: Vickers, Miranda; Between Serb and Albanian-A History of Kosovo; Columbia University Press; 1988; page XIV.

51. “Spectral evidence refers to a witness testimony that the accused person’s spirit or spectral shape appeared to [the] witness in a dream at the time the accused person’s physical body was at another location. It was accepted in the courts during the Salem Witch Trials.” [June-September 1692] - http://definitions.uslegal.com/s/spectral-evidence/ - It reappeared in the U.S. in 2013: “Jurors at the Jacko trial heard testimony from a surprise witness yesterday — the ghost of Michael Jackson! [...] In the supernatural tête-á-tête, Jacko’s ghost allegedly absolved Dr. Conrad Murray of any guilt in his death and admitted he “accidentally killed himself.” - “Ghost” of Jacko stars at LA trial; New York Post; June 12, 2013. - http://www.nypost.com/p/news/national/ghost_of_jacko_stars_at_la_trial_Flr5EJeWiSLJQsCT9djE9L

52. Sakran, Frank C.; Palestine Dilemma: Arab Rights versus Zionist Aspirations; Public Affairs Press; Washington; 1948; p. 204.

53. See at least the1932 U.S. Stimson Doctrine (on non-recognition of international territorial changes executed by force), and Articles 3 and 11 of the 1933 Montevideo Convention, on the rights and duties of states (prohibition of creation and recognition of puppet states) and the prohibition of the use of force in order to obtain sovereignty. The "international community" claimed they were obsolete until the cases of Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

54. As late as July 28, 2013, the KFOR Commander, German General Walker Halbauer, stated that "As far as military matters are concerned, [I] decide who may enter Kosovo. […] I want to emphasize that in Kosovo, both the U.N. Resolution 1244 and the Kumanovo Agreement, are in force." ("Када је војска у питању ја одлучујем ко може да уђе на Косово. […] Хоћу да нагласим да је на Косову и даље на снази и Резолуција УН 1244 и Кумановски споразум.") - See: Lazanski, Miroslav; I understand the Serbs from the Ibar River area; Politika; July 28, 2013. -