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Bulgarian president Georgi Parvanov addresses to the 57th session of the United Nations General Assembly at U.N. headquarters in New York, September 12, 2002. Before the opening segment of the General Assembly ends on September 20, some 52 presidents and prime ministers as well as 129 foreign ministers will have addressed the assembly. REUTERS/Ray Stubblebine
Bulgaria's President Georgi Parvanov addresses the 57th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly September 12, 2002 at U.N. headquaters in New York. REUTERS/Jeff Christensen
Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov, who is in New York for a special open meeting of the UN Security Council and the 57th Session of the UN General Assembly, confers with Afghan President Hamid Karzai. Pressphoto BTA: Dimiter Anestev
Macedonians attend final pre-election rally of VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday Sept. 12, 2002. Poster shows Prime Minister and VMRO-DPMNE leader Ljubco Georgievski. (AP Photo / Nikolas Giakoumidis)
An elderly Macedonian holds a sign reading: "Head up- Macedonia for you" while he attends a final pre-election rally of VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday Sept. 12, 2002. (AP Photo / Nikolas Giakoumidis)
A man holds a photo showing Macedonia's Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski, during the final pre-election rally of VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday Sept. 12, 2002. Boskovski is the candidate of VMRO-DPMNE and LPM-Liberal Party of Macedonia coalition at parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 15, 2002. (AP Photo/Srdjan Ilic)
Thousands of Macedonians attend a final pre-election rally of the VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday Sept. 12, 2002. VMRO-DPMNE and LPM-Liberal Party of Macedonia are in coalition for parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 15, 2002. (AP Photo / Boris Grdanoski)
Boys hold Macedonia's flag during a final pre-election rally of VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday Sept. 12 2002. VMRO-DPMNE and LPM-Liberal Party of Macedonia are in coalition for parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 15, 2002. (AP Photo / Boris Grdanoski)
Macedonian Prime Minister and leader of VMRO-DPMNE (Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party for Macedonian National Unity) Ljubco Georgievski, left, waves as he is applauded by Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski, right, during their party final pre-election rally in Skopje, Macedonia, Thursday Sept. 12, 2002. VMRO-DPMNE and LPM-Liberal Party of Macedonia are in coalition at parliamentary elections scheduled for Sept. 15, 2002. (AP Photo / Srdjan Ilic)
Supporters of Macedonian ruling VMRO-DPMNE party shout slogans for their party's leader and Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubco Georgievski during a pre-election rally in the center of Skopje on September 12, 2002 as the country prepares for upcoming key election next weekend. The Macedonia's Sunday vote presents a final test to the Western brokered peace accord that ended the fighting between government troops and ethnic Albanian guerrillas and prevented a new Balkan bloodbath. REUTERS/Dimitar Dilkoff
Election Is Coming - More than 25,000 supporters of the Internal Macedonian Revolutionary Organization-Democratic Party of Macedonian National Unity (VMRO-DPMNE) attend its pre-election meeting in Skopje. CTK/EPA
SITUATION IN CRISIS REGIONS.
MIA
A 35-year old police reservist Fikri Elmazi, from the village of Tenovo, Tetovo region, has been killed early Thursday during the attack of the police station Bogovinje near Tetovo.
Tetovo Interior Department says Elmazi has been shot dead Thursday after 06:00 hours. The police investigate the case.
Police sources say the attackers are known and belong to an armed group, which recently kidnapped the eight Macedonians in the village of Zerovjane, Tetovo region.
Series of increased gunfire were registered in Tetovo region overnight, MIA's correspondent reports.
Series of violations to the public order and peace with sporadic and riffle shots from various infantry weaponry were evidenced overnight in Kumanovo-Lipkovo region.
According to Interior Ministry spokesman Voislav Zafirovski, the shots came from the villages of Ropaljce, Lojane, Slupcane and Matejce but had no definite targets.
Macedonia: Policeman gunned down in Tetovo region.
Makfax
One policeman was shot dead earlier today during an attack on police station in the village of Bogovinje, Tetovo region, police sources confirmed.
The police reservist Fadil Elmazi (age 34) died earlier today amid attack on provisional station, carried out by ten-person group. The assailants fired heavy machine-gun rounds from two vehicles. The other four policemen, members of the multiethnic police, were not injured, the Interior Ministry spokesman Voislav Zafirovski told Makfax news agency.
The assailants managed to escape from the crime scene before the arrival of police back up.
Zafirovski rejected the speculations that the policeman Bekim Memeti, who was on duty in the same police station in Bogovinje, was kidnapped by the assailants.
The police pursues a thorough investigation into the latest act of violence.
Attack On Bogovinje Police Station.
Reality Macedonia
Irina Gelevska
Police reservist Fadil Elmazi (34) was killed this morning during the attack on the temporary police station in Bogovinje.
The other four policemen from the multiethnic police patrol were unharmed in the attack.
According to the police, a group of 10 attackers, who run away when the police reinforcement arrived to the scene, conducted the assault.
This morning around 06:00, several unknown men opened fire from Kalashnikov assault rifles at the Police Station in the village Bogovinje, that lies between Tetovo and Gostivar.
The killed policeman Fadil Elmazi is a relative of the Deputy Minister of Inferior Refet Elmazi.
Unofficially, several policemen are wounded and at least one has been kiddnaped.
The Police blocked the Skopje-Tetovo-Gostivar highway and is searching for the attackers. Police sources claim that the attack on the Police Station in the village Bogovinje might be an act of revenge because of the yesterday's action of the Police, which lead to release of two kidnapped civilians from Tetovo.
According to Dnevnik article, Albanian hijackers abducted the two men, Pero Gligorov and Mirche Stamatoski, at gunpoint, and took them to Lisec village, demanding ransom of about $15,000 from the victims' families. Police sources identified the suspects as Lirid Kurtishi and Vulnet N. Both are at large.
Greece to allow automatic renewal of interim agreement normalizing relations with Macedonia.
AP
ATHENS, Greece - Greece will allow the automatic renewal of an interim agreement with Macedonia that allowed the two countries to establish diplomatic relations seven years ago, the government said Thursday.
"It will be renewed with the procedure that is foreseen. The interim agreement will continue to remain in force for one more year. There is an automatic renewal," government spokesman Christos Protopappas said.
He added that Greece was also prepared to discuss finding a solution to a dispute with Macedonia over its name.
Greece and Macedonia normalized relations seven years ago following a mediation effort by the United States. The interim agreement, which expires on Sept. 13, came in 1995 after a dispute over the country's name and national symbols led to a crippling embargo imposed by Greece on Macedonia in 1994. The interim agreement renews automatically if neither country disagrees.
Greece has successfully blocked international recognition of its northern neighbor as the "Republic of Macedonia" until a resolution of a dispute over the country's name. The country is officially known in the United Nations and European Union as the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or FYROM.
Although relations between the neighbors have improved considerably since the two countries signed the interim agreement, talks held under United Nations auspices in New York to resolve the dispute have made little headway.
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PM GEORGEIVSKI MARKED THE BEGINNING OF SKOPJE RING ROAD CONSTRUCTION.
MIA
Macedonian Prime Minister Ljubcho Georgievski marked Thursday the beginning of the construction activities of Skopje ring road, near Hipodrom junction on E-65 highway.
"There has not been a project that we talked so much about it and that has been so well developed. Corridor 8 is part of the international community projects and along with Corridor 10 will make Macedonia a transport crossroad on the Balkans, something we only saw on the maps and we were not able to realize it in the infrastructure," Georgievski said in his address to the present.
"This road will not be only part of the international roads, but "it will also be our ring road around Skopje and will significantly reduce the traffic jam in the capital, it will expand the city's borders and we will win new construction lands," Georgievski said.
Speaking of the ring road benefits, Georgievski said that they have provided work to the construction companies "Granit" and 'Mavrovo" for the next years.
" I believe the fact that these companies would be engaged in the next three years, means that we will relax the other construction companies, thus opening a new cycle of construction," Georgievski said.
Minister of Transport and Communications Ljupco Balkoski emphasized that considering the working conditions created by the Macedonian Government and the Ministry of Transport and Communications in cooperation with the domestic companies, Macedonia was turned into a big construction site at this moment.
"The things we did so far are guarantee that in the next period we will construct thousands more kilometers of roads and we will build more residential complexes in order to improve the standard of the Macedonian citizens," Balkoski said.
Reminding on the recent signing of the Memorandum on Understanding of Corridor 8, he pointed out that this Corridor presented a historic opportunity of the country and the entire region for opening the East - West relation, which would contribute to overall development of the region and Europe.
"With Corridor 10 and Corridor 8 Macedonia is finally a transport crossroad of Europe and with the construction of Skopje ring road they will be joined," Balkoski said.
Director of the Fund for Highways and Regional Roads Vulnet Polosi emphasized that Skopje ring road, which should be 13,5-km long was part of the European transport Corridor 8 that connects Macedonia with "Bulgaria, Albania, Central and West Europe and would contribute to the future development both on international and national plan of every member country."
The Fund for Highways and Regional Roads is the investor and has provided 36 million Euro from the European Investment Bank in terms of credits with beneficiary interest rates, grace period of seven years and reimbursement period of 18 years.
The ring road should be completed by August 2005.
Charity Bazaar To Raise Money For Operation of Refugee Girl.
Civic Society Macedonia
 The Association of Housewives of Macedonia, joined by internally displaced women, organize a charity Bazaar in the Army Club (Dom na ARM) in Skopje. The bazaar is open from September 11 to September 13, with working hours 11:00 to 20:00.
The aim of the bazaar is to collect funds for the refugees, especially a 22 years old female student who needs urgent surgery (kidney transplantation) to be performed abroad.
This humanitarian manifestation features sale of art works, dolls in folk dresses, handmade knitted and embroidered works, engravings and other homemade products. It also includes promotion of the anti-war, anti-terror and anti-injustice multimedia CD "Love Each Other, People," and the poetry book "Fruit For The Heart," (dedicated to resettled children) by Marija Kubajska.
  Paintings of traditional Macedonian folk jewelry embroidered with silver threads (srma).
Association of Housewives of Macedonia is a nongovernmental, nonpartisan, voluntary organization established October 29, 2001. It welcomes housewives regardless of their employment status, education level, age, religion or ethnicity.
Aims of the association include elevation of the morality of the individual, the family, and the society, through self-organization and self-employment, based on one's abilities.
Contacts:
President: Liljana Lakic, tel. (02) 45 87 84 Coordinator: Lila Belovska (02) 46 58 40 & 070 20 09 84 Address: bul. "Jane Sandanski" 45/1-44 Skopje E-mail: ZDM@macedonia.eu.org
Some of the handcraft above has been supplied by Gordana Miladinovska's Homemade Handicraft Salon (02 46 90 48). You can get in touch with them via the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Center of the Economic Chamber of Macedonia (Contact: Slavica Bogovoeva 02 22 78 14, slavica@ic.mchamber.org.mk)
(F.S)
Damage Control and Institutional Disease.
Antiwar.com
by Christopher Deliso in Skopje
Photos by Sasha Uzunov
The farcical reactions of Macedonia's interventionists.
The September 15th Macedonian elections are not, in fact, the subject of this piece. But they do provide a convenient jumping-off point. For the elections in themselves are insignificant; they are only symptomatic of a greater malignancy.
Even for the country's sake, it no longer matters who wins the elections and perhaps it never did. For sure, the biggest losers will be the Macedonian people. Utterly alienated from the political process by parties they ceased believing in long ago, and force-fed "democracy" by outside forces, the Macedonians no longer believe in anybody. In the recent words of Dr. Sam Vaknin:
"the relationship between Macedonia and the international community is damaged beyond repair. No matter who is in power, the people are disenchanted, disillusioned and extremely suspicious it will be very difficult to re-establish trust."
Yet this has not stopped the local parties and media from launching a ferocious pre-election blitz, in which many strange things have been occurring. First of all, the opposition SDSM mysteriously withdrew from the scheduled series of electoral debates. Confident of victory, they apparently thought they had more to lose than gain from debating. The debates four years ago merely degenerated into vitriolic accusations and embarrassment all around.
Meanwhile, articles by the present author were haphazardly paraphrased in both pro-government newspapers and pro-opposition television with both media sensationalizing elements out of context for their own benefit. Apparently also drawing on my last series, the government then printed (on 10 September) a full-page challenge to the ICG (in the pro-government newspaper Vecer), demanding an apology for factual inaccuracies contained in the ICG's corruption report. But by antagonizing the powerful thinktank, this challenge may well blow up in their face.
"All the way with DPA!"
A Stunningly Predictable Reaction.
The Macedonians are not the only losers. The Albanian parties are also fraught with discord. In their special way, they have taken to killing each other to solve their disagreements. The DPA even blew up the print shop of an unfriendly media body, in the early hours of September 11.
But worst of all has been the reaction of some of the Western parties mentioned in my last series. The shrill outcry, and in some cases, outright bullying, from these people shows that they were never very interested in what they were actually talking about or doing. For instead of debating the objections like intelligent people, they have resorted to mere damage control.
This is strange, since none of the institutions mentioned is a political appendage and damage control is most appropriate for politicians and pop stars.
Their reactions, which I will now document, are confirmation more of unthinking desperation than of evil intent: of how the frenzied thirst for damage control at all costs has bludgeoned democratic discussion of something vital to the West's democratic, freedom-of-speech foundations: the issues.
But again, this because all of their efforts whether they be IMF negotiations, IWPR media missives, or Edward Joseph's ICG corruption report never did have much to do with their ostensible purposes, anyway.
For while the veneer of idealism is spread pretty thick, there is nothing academic about such researches, nothing honest about such labors. The tyranny of self-appointed dictators is all too evident.
Ironically, these groups owe their formidable power to the monetary support of many individuals, institutions and governments and for this reason, their representatives can be nothing but mediocre, dutiful, and conformist. Their greatest strength is also their greatest weakness. But they become quite cranky when reminded of this.
The IMF Lashes Out at Sam Vaknin.
Only days after the above-mentioned interview came out, the IMF struck back. Dr. Vaknin had given me expert testimony from his personal experience of the recent IMF negotiations in Macedonia. His conclusion, and that of Finance Minister Gruevski, was that the IMF deliberately changed the rules and utilized deceptive tactics to prevent the Macedonian government from reaching a standby arrangement with the Fund.
Although he was not specifically mentioned in the interview, Macedonia's IMF representative, Jan Mikkelson, allegedly was infuriated. So much so, in fact, that he went straight to Gruevski and demanded that Dr. Vaknin not participate in any future IMF negotiations or else he, Jan Mikkelson, would personally boycott the talks, effectively cutting Macedonia off completely from even the thought of international aid.
In the experience of Dr. Vaknin, who has negotiated with the IMF on the behalf of 6 different countries, this act was unprecedented. According to him, Mikkelsen was acting completely beyond his authority. Nothing more than a "messenger boy," Mikkelsen's duties are to communicate Washington's policies to Macedonia, and transmit back the response in essence, to be a liaison. That Mikkelsen suddenly "acquired a mind of his own" was, according to Dr. Vaknin, quite remarkable and disturbing.
Soon thereafter, Dr. Vaknin's official letter of protest was sent to IMF headquarters in Washington. To date, there has been no official reaction. A phone call to Mikkelsen's Skopje office (on 11 September) yielded only an official "no comment."
What's behind the Prime Minister's mysterious grin, anyway?
IWPR Lashes Out (Indirectly) in This Direction.
The bold-faced headline literally shouts it out: Macedonian editors face arrest!
Disappointingly, this reaction of IWPR to my last series only further confirmed it: these people (at least in the Balkans) are charlatans, devoid of any credibility whatsoever. Rather than discuss the quite reasonable objections that had been made, the IWPR deliberately censored and manipulated them:
"the state-owned dailies Nova Makedonija and Vecer this week serialized a long article accusing international organizations including IWPR and the International Crisis Group, ICG, NATO, the OSCE and others of conspiring to bring about electoral defeat for Boskovski and Georgievski's party, VMRO-DPMNE"
Apparently, the provenance of the "long article" was not important to mention. Further, it is unclear from the piece whether the sentiment of "conspiring" was more appropriate to the original, or (as it turns out) the Macedonian translation.
Apparently too, the "long article" was not read very carefully, for in it, NATO isn't accused of anything (spokesman Craig Radcliff personally told me that allegations made against it were specious).
In short, this entire sentence smacks of pre-packaged rhetoric which is not hard to understand when one sees the whole piece for what it is: desperate, distraught damage control.
As I am well aware, once an article leaves the safety of its mother tongue, all control over its translation and dissemination disappears. Local manipulation is to be expected. But the fact that IWPR was not interested in citing the original article is revealing: it shows deliberate censorship of damaging arguments.
Since the organization is not used to taking any kind of criticism whatsoever, it was perhaps unprepared for how to react. Sadly, the IWPR folks chose to do so in the worst fashion possible by hurriedly concealing the charges, and manipulating developments to their advantage. At least when I criticized them, I linked to very specific articles and quotes. But apparently the "professionals" have better methods than source citation.
This hurried whitewashing attempt just makes IWPR look pathetic.
The Drama Queens of London.
The IWPR piece nevertheless attempts to create a sense of tactical drama by printing disingenuous information, which nevertheless seems compelling to the general reader. The institution betrays its lack of credibility by blowing the situation out of all proportion. And, in attempting to prove the enormity of the alleged "anti-Western" movement, IWPR willfully deceives its sincere readers.
Indeed, there is only one real event reported in the article: Minister Boskovski's announcement that he might arrest certain anti-government editors. Whether or not he follows through with such an unwise scheme remains to be seen. Chances are, however, that he won't, and they know it: after all, haven't the IWPR and Co. long mocked Boskovski for his many bombastic (and ultimately empty) threats? Especially considering their constant predictions of his swift demise after 15 September, should we really believe that they are scared?
Yet witness the breathless testimony of Forum editor (and IWPR project editor) Saso Ordanovski: "today, I was informed by a very reliable source that Boskovski is finalizing the list of those who will be arrested, and apparently I am at the top of it." Ordanovski adds that he is currently under "the highest form of surveillance."
Of course, IWPR presents this targeting as some kind of unspeakable tragedy, one of those inexplicable events that drop from the sky like a biblical plague. Yet enemies do not spring up overnight, and by deliberately censoring the relevant information, IWPR betrays its own paucity of method. As in a classical tragedy, the emotions are hijacked, and then the mind, so that the reader ultimately arrives at the pre-desired conclusion, which could be:
"Here we see yet another case of backwards, barbaric Eastern European governments cracking down on valiant, but weak, independent journalists the rights of whom IWPR is sworn to protect. Indeed, how uncivilized and uncouth would the Balkans be without us!"
They Are Right But Still They Are Wrong.
This is not to defend Boskovski, of course. Threatening journalists is so out of style. Everyone knows that a war of words is the only civilized way to fight. But really, the Macedonian government is about as barbaric as the IWPR is weak. (And to imply that IWPR's Macedonia clones are objective, disinterested bystanders is devious to say the least).
Indeed, jailing editors would also be severely counterproductive for winning an election. Any writer in favor of the government (as I am alleged to be) would try to improve upon its tarnished anti-Western image. I have instead pointed out the animosities of specific members of Western organizations working in tandem with specific local people against the current government, solely from information that can be gleaned by anyone from the internet. This has not really aided the government, but neither has it encouraged the IWPR to reform its ways as is abundantly clear from this report.
Propaganda and Power.
As I stated before, there is absolutely nothing independent about the IWPR or its affiliates in Macedonia. Their greedy hands are thrust deep into all sorts of pies. Indeed, nothing that they write can be removed from its blatantly political context. And the fact that this recent article was written by the very same people it quoted reinforces this complicity. Clearly, IWPR has an interest in remaining in Macedonia.
By working with locals, the institution gains prestige from having such valued "inside reports." In addition to prestige, however, its local disciples can gain political favor, NGO contracts, international grants, and more. Nothing exists in a vacuum.
In fairness, their Caucasus reports are often quite good. But in Macedonia at least, IWPR has no independence, and no objective voice. Just like the pro-government bodies which it criticizes, IWPR is propagandistic in nature only less obviously so.
A Laugh Riot.
Although the report is only two pages long, it contains untold comic utterances. The astonishing, willful disregard for everything that provoked the reactionary piece in the first place continues: the IWPR again cites "polls" indicating VMRO's impending doom. Yet the only survey they have ever explicitly referred to was one (US government-backed) poll of 15 July.
In essence, the article makes the case that the IWPR and (unaffiliated) Western organizations are suspected of "conspiring" to influence the elections. To defend themselves, they would like to discredit anyone who seems to share this view. Yet any doubts that these groups are at least very friendly disappear, as the article merrily disintegrates into apology for the ICG's corruption report. Apparently, the two groups believe that the best defense is a good offense: for instead of answering the serious charges of factual misrepresentation and perceptible bias, the IWPR piece just hollers more loudly in defense of the beleaguered report. To wit:
"as exhaustively detailed in a recent ICG report, corruption allegations implicate political figures at the highest level of the Macedonian government. Huge sums have been siphoned into political coffers and officials' pockets, not only from local trade but also from international assistance. Loss of office could mean loss of control of such channels, and possible investigation on corruption charges."
The IWPR must really take its readers for fools, as reading between the lines here is not very hard. To translate it out of spin-speak and into an (appropriately) high-school vernacular, the paragraph might read:
"OK, forget about the wrong parts and stuff, the corruption report was like, really really long, and it had a lot of footnotes, so it's true, OK? Just take our word for it you don't need to read it for yourself! Anyway, we got these guys pretty good, and we can intimidate them for now but when our friends take over the government, we're gonna be there to like, publicize the trials and get a piece of the action! Come on, all the cool kids are doing it!"
SDSM- Branko's Dream Team, or Macedonia's "Reservoir Dogs?"
As If Nothing Had Ever Happened.
The same tactic (of taking the offensive) was employed by the ICG's Edward Joseph. Amazingly enough, he got right back on the bike in a sensationalistic AP article, acting as if his method and motive had not just been blown out of the water:
"Desperate political figures can do desperate things, and that is the most worrying,'' said Edward Joseph, who monitors Macedonia for the International Crisis Group, an organization that keeps tabs on the world's trouble spots."
The AP article breathlessly summed up all of the "troubling" events in Macedonia these days:
"Teenagers shout 'Death to Albanians!' at a rally of Macedonia's ruling party. Protesters block a highway to demand the release of jailed activists. A mass kidnapping rattles the country."
Regardless of the newsworthiness of teenage testimony, it is notable that this is the only one of the three events mentioned that is given an agent (i.e., partisans of Macedonia's "ruling party"). The other nouns without owners ("protesters" and "kidnapping"), of course, belong to the same militant Albanians who have caused all of the disruptions, murders and explosions lately. When it comes time to mention the inter-Albanian shooting that left two dead a fortnight ago, the perpetrators are only named as "masked assailants." Of course, given that the article begins with Macedonians shouting "death to Albanians," who would the reader be inclined to suspect here?
Besides this whitewash, the murder of two policemen on the Gostivar road is not even mentioned. But a man who is mentioned and extensively quoted is Joseph's apparent friend, Ali Ahmeti. On 9 September, Macedonians traveling by public bus on that same road reported being intimidated at a rest stop, by three busloads of Ahmeti's supporters, waving Albanian flags menacingly and shouting Albanian nationalistic songs. What country's election is the man running in, anyway?
Oh yeah, I forgot the one being rigged by the "Slav-Macedonian colonizers."
For good measure, the article goes on to indirectly support Joseph and his duties by vouching for the corruption problem and stating that it is worse under the present government. Apparently, all caution is being thrown to the wind: it's coming down to the wire, and all the guns are blazing.
Observing these trends damage control at all costs, willful censorship and a blistering, deaf offensive leaves us with no room for doubt. We are not dealing here with free-thinking individuals, but with
100 Monkeys, 100 Typewriters.
The purely reactive nature of the various responses to my series indicates that we are dealing here not with people who like to think, but with people who like to be right all the time.
Occasionally a reader will complain about what I have written. If I feel I was wrong, then I apologize. On the other hand, the IWPR and Co. just react either by hiding the objections, or by attempting to jabber over them. This is dull, predictable labor something fit for a trained chimp.
As we will see in the following sections, the biggest problem with the IWPR or ICG is not unique to these specific organizations. The fundamental problem instead is one that plagues institutions in general the relations between individuals and the collective.
Individual members of such groups are constrained by many things, including ideology, rank and obedience to the overall objective. Their chronic lack of a sense of humor probably derives from the continual need for ideological vigilance, peer approval, and the oppressive stench of the omnipresent lawyers.
"Independent media" organizations such as the IWPR claim to defend free speech. Yet sadly, they sacrifice the possibility of enjoying it themselves. They are rigid, frozen, unable to speak with true personal conviction. They adhere more strictly to their party line than does any political party.
The Problem of Institutions.
For these bodies suffer neither self-criticism nor dissent. They train other people in how to think and how to operate but never the other way around. And, they are never wrong.
These NGO's know full well, too, that should they refuse to be accountable for their actions, they had better be able to rely on their own perceived infallibility. And if the latter should go so will they. They are aware that to allow any public trepidation, any doubt, is to invite the spread of a creeping disease that will quickly devour the institution from within.
Be this as it may, institutions are composed of individuals, who sacrifice their individuality, fleeing their freedom of speech for the safety of an acronym. And this inspires cowardice. After all, who needs to stand up for his own opinion, when it can safely be attributed to a protective, providential organization?
The flip side of this, of course, is that the institution as a body must defend what its individuals say. Hence, the need to cultivate an image of infallibility. When this image is destroyed, damage control begins. And so you have the latest IWPR article, which sort of attacks my series (indirectly), and is written by "IWPR staff in London" with not one member of this big and powerful institution even taking the responsibility for their statements.
For being in this situation, I pity them deeply.
Individuals and Institutions.
Yet it is not really their fault. These people have been swallowed up by whales. Perhaps they assumed, wrongly as it turns out, that the belly of the beast would contain some glittering treasure.
Sadly, these alleged humanitarians are prevented from being human. Preoccupied every moment with damage control, litigation, keeping up one's image in the press no wonder these people have no sense of humor! When you throw in the rest of the argument (that, as with the Macedonian elections, there are other, more tangible goals in mind), their deadly seriousness becomes clear.
For them to make mistakes is impossible. And of course, any criticism is forbidden. As we have seen, institutions have ways of reacting, both directly and indirectly, to dissidents.
But we should not be too afraid of them. They are not so big after all.
Meeting the Wizard.
The word "conspiracy" in English conjures up images of scheming old men, hunched secretly over tables in concealed rooms, plotting the manipulation of the established order. And those who can imagine so vividly such scenarios are dubbed, with affectionate contempt, conspiracy theorists. Indeed, such perfect schemes work only in the pages of spy thrillers and television comedies like when Homer Simpson discovered that the "Stonecutter's Lodge" is secretly responsible for keeping the metric system down in America.
Inevitably, such conspiracies do not exist. Why? Simply put, the would-be conspirators have not an imagination equal to those who would suspect them. In real life, those who have the lowest motives and the most to gain also tend to be the least capable of creating anything really elaborate. And, despite the lights, smoke and mirrors, they are inevitably quite humble, shivering in their ideological nakedness.
The Farce That Now Afflicts Macedonia.
Which is why, when it comes to Western intervention in Macedonia's elections, there is no conspiracy. If there had been, it would have been carried out less clumsily, less conspicuously, and above all with more foresight than the present meddling. For one journalist to have found, in ten days, several clear factual examples of this intervention and with no resources, no money, and no assistants reflects rather poorly on those implicated. For either they were very stupid, to have gone about it so obviously, or else just very arrogant, to assume that no one would be intelligent enough to catch on. Or perhaps they were a little of both.
And they were surely disorganized. Perhaps they should have come up with a slick master plan. This is where their tired and automatic reaction "anti-Western conspiracy theories!" holds no water, at least as far as involves the present author. Whatever use others may make of my texts and I know they are used selectively, and sometimes sensationally they should leave me out of it. Why, one might ask?
Usually, the people who manufacture such theories cite the pervasive influence of huge institutions, colluding and controlling, deciding the fates of millions. Hence the little men in little rooms scenario much embraced by LaRouchies, militiamen, and some Leftists.
Yet while there are occasional and apparent effects of such collusion, it is hard to prove that they derive from some unified, malevolent cause. And usually, they don't. For the conspiratorial view derives from a mistaken understanding of how institutions work.
Worse Than Conspiracy Mediocrity
Far from being towering, unified and goal-oriented, institutions tend to breed internal disharmony, resistance to innovation, mediocrity and acute motivational drift.
Cooperation between institutions happens, above all, due to the friendships of specific individuals, who can cloak those friendships cozily in the safety of the group's name. Don't think for a minute that IWPR is really upset about being linked to an "anti-government conspiracy." Such accusations are relished as mere fodder for their defense. No, these groups are angry because specific individuals, with specific interests have for the first time been cited.
Indeed, these intrinsic drawbacks of institutions tend to diminish the likelihood of any real, top-level conspiracies. Stricken by internal disputes, laziness, peer pressure, miscommunications and divergent goals, even the friendliest of institutions have not the wherewithal to willingly conspire. Only on an individual level do mutual needs, alliances and animosities emerge.
The Disaster of Resources.
However, institutions do have resources. But awarding resources to mediocrity is like giving typewriters to rhesus monkeys. One winds up with a room full of jabbering, gesticulating apes, all waving their typescripts and howling.
Unfortunately, as we have seen, today's world seems to prize highly these illegible and poorly thought-out masterpieces. Hopefully, when it comes time to dole out the rewards, they will at least be given the golden banana.
Denmark To Support The Bulgarian Nuclear Power Plant Kozlodui.
News.bg
Denmark will seek dialogue with the European Commission on the future of Nuclear Power Plant Kozlodui, is the news from the meeting of the Bulgarian President Georgi Parvanov with the Danish Prime Minister Andres Rasmunsen.
COCAINE SEIZURE.
BTA
Cocaine with Market Value of $860,000 Seized at Sofia Airport.
Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - Cocaine with a market value of 860,000 dollars was found and seized on Thursday afternoon by customs officers at Sofia Airport. The shipment of 8.6 kg of cocaine originated from Brazil and was intended for a Bulgarian company, whose name is an investigative secret, the drug control unit told journalists.
The drug reached France by plane and then was hidden in the axle of a truck owned by a bread-baking company.
The drug was found by a sniffer dog.
BULGARIA-RUSSIA-FOREIGN MINISTERS-MEETING.
BTA
Foreign Ministers Solomon Passy of Bulgaria, Igor Ivanov of Russia Talk in New York.
Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - Foreign Minister Solomon Passy met with his Russian counterpart Igor Ivanov at the UN Headquarters in New York on Wednesday, the Bulgarian Foreign Ministry said.
The two discussed topical aspects of Bulgarian-Russian political cooperation.
Passy underlined Bulgaria's interest to open consulates in Ekaterinburg and Rostov-on-Don as soon as possible.
The two chief diplomats put the accent on the forthcoming visit to Russia by Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov. Ivanov told Passy he was planning to avail himself of the invitation to visit Bulgaria by the year's end or early in 2003.
Passy and Ivanov exchanged views on the developments of the situation around Iraq. They agreed to keep in permanent contact, inter alia, in the context of the two countries' joint work in the UN Security Council.
The President Will Bring Bill Gates to Bulgaria.
Standartnews
President Georgi Parvanov invited to Bulgaria Bill Gates for the celebration of John Atanassov's centenary next year at the yesterday's meeting with Peter Hays, Vice-President of Microsoft. The deputy of Gates pledged that the company will take part in the construction of a military control center in this country. President Parvanov and Hays discussed also an e-presidency pilot project.
UN - BULGARIA - IRAQ.
BTA
President Purvanov Expects "More Specific" UN Commitment to Iraq Issue.
New York, September 12 (BTA special correspondent Dimiter Anestev) - Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov and Foreign Minister Solomon Passy were approached by Bulgarian and international journalists Wednesday for comments on the Iraq issue, following a special open meeting of the United Nations Security Council.
Asked by a foreign journalist what he expects to hear from US President George W. Bush about Iraq, President Purvanov said no country is supposed to offer advice to the US President ahead of his public statement.
"In any case, Bulgaria will clearly state its position - not just in connection with President Bush's statement and the key points which he may put forward.
Bulgaria has already made clear it is ready to side with the anti-terror coalition.
The country has clearly declared that the Security Council should make Saddam Hussein observe its resolutions," Purvanov said.
Purvanov was asked whether the UN Security Council is prepared to approve "harder action" in the current period of the Bulgarian presidency in order to make Saddam Husayn observe its resolutions. The President said that under the Bulgarian presidency, and perhaps afterwards as well, the Security Council "will obviously show willingness for more specific commitment to this issue."
He added that this assumption is based on his impressions from his talks in Washington and New York over the last three days.
Purvanov declined to predict how "hard" the Security Council may decide to act. "This largely depends on the position of each individual country and on the capacity of those who will hold the relevant diplomatic negotiations," he said.
Foreign Minister Passy was asked about the likely Bulgarian position if the Security Council considers a special resolution on Iraq. Passy recalled that the Council has already come up with several resolutions: in the 1996-1998 period it held 16 debates and approved six resolutions on Iraq.
"We believe that the international community should show patience for some time," Passy said. "We have been waiting for twelve years for the situation in Iraq to improve. So we can wait for another twelve hours or twelve weeks, but not twelve years. The Bulgarian authorities will be satisfied if the UN Security Council shows willingness to assume greater responsibilities in the Iraq case." The Foreign Minister expects the Council to pass a resolution on Iraq in the following few weeks.
"Let us wait until Thursday and see what President Bush has to say and how the UN will react," Passy said. The Security Council may approve a resolution on Iraq "by a vast majority, if not by consensus," he said.
UN-BULGARIAN PRESIDENT.
BTA
Bulgarian President Calls on Iraq for Immediate and Unconditional Observation of UN Security Council Resolutions.
New York, September 12 (BTA) - In his speech before the 57th session of the UN General Assembly Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov called on Iraq to meet immediately and unconditionally the UN Security Council resolutions.
The Bulgarian president was the sixth to take the floor. He outlined some of Bulgaria's priorities before the session, and spoke about the fight against international terrorism, and the situation in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East.
"The Republic of Bulgaria approaches the 57th session of the UN General Assembly with the additional responsibility of a member of the Security Council. We stick firmly to the principles of consensus, constructive dialogue and transparency in the work of the Council," said Purvanov.
He dwelled on the Iraq crisis, stressing the need of full implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions.
"For some 12 years now Iraq is in the focus of the UN's attention. The full implementation of the UN Security Council resolutions in respect to Iraq is a very urgent task. We expect from Iraq to observe immediately and unconditionally these resolutions. For its part the Security Council must take steps to establish its authority and efficiency as the only international body responsible for maintaining internal peace and security," said Purvanov.
Bulgaria will support all decisions aimed at achieving this goal, he added.
The Bulgarian head of state voiced his agreement with Secretary General Kofi Annan and President Bush over the need for resoluteness in working out quickly an efficient stand of the Security Council on this matter.
In his speech the Bulgarian president described counter-terrorism as a major international priority, but warned that it should not lead to persecution on religious or ethnic grounds or violation of human rights. Purvanov stressed Bulgaria's considerable contribution to the international community's anti-terror effort and to the fight against organized crime, drug trafficking, corruption, money laundering, illegal human trafficking and arms trade.
Purvanov voiced Bulgaria's stand that progress towards finding a solution to the Middle East conflict can be made only on the basis of dialogue and cooperation between the parties involved.
The Bulgarian president talked about the Afghanistan problem, as well, noting that the situation there remains unstable. In this connection Bulgaria proposes alleviation of Afghanistan's foreign debt burden with the aim of promoting the country's economic development.
Purvanov spoke about the positive trends in the development of Eastern Europe. In his opnion, the European and Euro-Atlantic integration of the countries in the region can contribute to achieving peace, stability and security in the region. Bulgaria attaches priority importance to its speedy EU and NATO accession which enjoys wide public support, said the head of state.
In his words Sofia has proven its capacity to generate stability and security in the region. He recalled the country's participation in peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, the successful ethnic model, the good neighbourly relations and Bulgaria's considerable contribution to regional cooperation. With these achievements in view, Bulgaria has all reasons to expect that it will be elected chair of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2004, the Bulgarian president pointed out.
President Purvanov declared Bulgaria's political will and capacity to continue to participate in the peacekeeping missions in Bosnia and Kosovo, and, if needed, increase its commitmnets to such operations.
Further on in his speech Purvanov stressed Sofia's support for UN's all embracing approach to finding a solution to the problem of nonproliferation of weapons of mass destruction. Purvanov noted that Bulgaria hails the measures taken by the UN to ensure more efficiently human rights. The UN presents the best framework for solving the tasks resulting from the new challenges to international peace, security and sustained development. "Bulgaria has the capacity and the will to contribute to the international effort," Purvanov concluded.
GEORGI PURVANOV - UN - SECURITY COUNCIL.
BTA
Bulgarian President Says World Will Fight Terrorism; Invites UN Secretary General to Visit Bulgaria.
New York, September 12 (BTA special correspondent Dimiter Anestev) - The Bulgarian presidency of the United Nations Security Council in September 2002 provides a chance for this country to reaffirm its solidarity with the global anti-terror coalition, according to Bulgarian President Georgi Purvanov.
Precisely one year after the September 11 terrorist attacks in the United States, President Purvanov chaired a high-level Security Council meeting convened to pay solemn tribute to the memory of the victims of these terrorist acts and to express sympathy to their families.
The meeting was attended by the foreign ministers of the 15 member states of the Security Council and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan. The Council observed a minute of silence in commemoration of the September 11 victims.
Purvanov read a Security Council declaration on the anniversary of the tragic events.
In the declaration the Council affirmed that the September 11 attacks "were an assault on global civilization and our common efforts to make the world a better and safer place." "The terrorists attacked the values enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations. The attacks challenged each member to rise to the task of defeating terrorism, which has claimed victims in all corners of the world," the declaration reads.
Addressing the Security Council, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said that "September 11 is one of those cataclysmic events like the assassination of President John F. Kennedy - that will stay forever fresh and vivid in our memory."
US Secretary of State Colin Powell called for concerted UN efforts towards "construction of a world in which terrorism could not thrive."
After the meeting, President Purvanov said that, judging by talks held in Washington and New York, ever more hopes are placed in the Security Council. "Crucial decisions will obviously be made here in the following few months. The international community is sending out clear signals about its readiness for continued efforts against international terrorism," Purvanov said.
At about 6.40pm Sofia Daylight Time on Thursday, Purvanov is expected to join a debate at the UN General Assembly. Meanwhile, US President George W. Bush is scheduled to make a statement, in which he will discuss the Iraq issue. In this context, President Purvanov has recently expressed the view that the Security Council should make Saddam Husayn observe its resolutions, and Iraq should again admit UN arms inspectors if it wishes to show the world that it does not make mass destruction weapons.
Purvanov invited the UN Secretary General to visit Bulgaria at his convenience. The two had a 20-minute talk. Purvanov expressed appreciation of Annan's role in preserving international peace and security, particularly through UN peacekeeping missions. The sides noted the Secretary General's good interaction with Bulgaria in the country's current capacity as holder of the rotating Security Council presidency.
Purvanov confirmed that Bulgaria will continue to play an active role within the organization. Annan noted that, although certain problems still exist in Southeastern Europe, the region is seeking the "European perspective" and respects human values. An example in this context is Bulgaria's integration with the EU and NATO, Annan said.
Purvanov and Annan listed the issues about Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East as particularly important.
Purvanov attended a formal commemorative ceremony in Battery Park held under the patronage of New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg. Bulgarian journalists could not attend the event due to tightened security measures.
Also on Wednesday, Purvanov met with Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov to discuss the former's upcoming visit to Moscow, the President's Press Secretariat said. Purvanov also held talks with Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen, Afghan President Hamid Karzai, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
Purvanov's Thursday agenda includes meetings with Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus and "Forbes" magazine Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes. In the evening the Bulgarian President will attend a reception given by the US President in honour of the state leaders participating in the UN session.
US - BULGARIAN FOREIGN MINISTER - MEETINGS.
BTA
Foreign Minister Confers with Spanish, French, Romanian Counterparts.
New York, September 12 (BTA) - Bulgarian Foreign Minister Solomon Passy conferred with the Foreign Ministers of Spain, France and Romania here on September 11, the Foreign Ministry said in a press release.
Spanish Foreign Minister Ana de Palacio reiterated her country's categorical support for Bulgaria's future membership of the European Union and commended Sofia's position on the International Criminal Court issue.
With chief French diplomat Dominique de Villepin, Passy discussed EU enlargement, focusing on Bulgaria's progress towards membership. De Villepin said France supports Bulgaria's efforts. The two agreed that the UN Security Council must play a central role in settling the Iraq issue.
Passy and Romanian Foreign Minister Mircea Geoana agreed on expediting the negotiations on the so called smaller cross-border traffic, which will allow people resident in the areas on both sides of the common border to travel to the other country carrying only their ID cards. Passy and Geoana believe it is necessary to step up the construction of a second Danube bridge between Bulgaria and Romania. They exchanged opinions on their countries' preparations for NATO membership.
AIR TRAFFIC SERVICES-REGIONAL CENTRE.
BTA
Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - The creation of a regional air traffic services centre in Bulgaria has been accelerated, Transport and Communications Minister Plamen Petrov said. Answering a question, he said the entire equipment of the new centre would be installed by the year's end. This was
planned for 2004, although the building was completed at the end of 2001.
The Transport Ministry managed to accelerate this process by rather difficult negotiations, Petrov said.
The new equipment is fully compatible with that of the flight control centre in Brindisi, Italy. It has been planned that Bulgaria should take a key position in air traffic control in the Balkans, working in close cooperation with the Italian centre.
AVIATION - SECURITY - INVENTIONS.
BTA
Bulgarian Scientists Invent Aviation Security Devices.
Sofia, September 12 (BTA) - Inventions for detection of explosives and other dangerous substances and for countering terrorists have been made by Bulgarian scientists of the International Training and Consultative Centre for Aviation Security. Transport and Communications Minister Plamen Petrov handed a certificate of operation to the organization Wednesday.
The researchers have developed an X-ray device for luggage examination which can be used to identify hidden dangerous substances by shape as well as type of material. The scientists are aware that a dangerous substance can be used to make the casing of an ordinary object. For example, the case of a lap-top computer can be made from material with explosive properties. The new device can detect such objects, unlike ordinary luggage scanners, Associate Professor Dinev said.
The team has also developed a method of neutralization of dangerous and toxic substances by encasing them in cement-like material.
A third invention is an electrical shock device which can be used from up to 5 metre distance, unlike ordinary electrical shock tools which require physical touch with the target.
These inventions are to be licensed and patented.
We're Working on Tip-offs about Corruption.
INTERVIEW Standartnews: Dimiter Kaltchev
Nikolay Varadinov
We're making up the deficit in municipal budgets, says Minister for the Civil Service Dimiter Kaltchev.
Dimiter Kaltchev, minister for the civil service, was born in 1945. In 1968 he graduated from the Higher Institute of Engineering and Electrification in Rousse. He also graduated from the Economic Academy in Moscow getting a master degree in industrial management. In 1996 he was specializing in industrial management in South Carolina (USA) and in 1997 was trained in Municipalities Associations Development in Washington. From November 1995 Kaltchev is the mayor of Rousse. He is fluent in English and Russian and uses Arabic and German.
- Mr. Kaltchev, what will you do to protect the interests of municipalities?
- The cabinet has adopted the ordinance on the financial decentralization of local administrations. I can definitely say that thanks to the former mayors - Dikme, Mollov and Paskalev - we managed to pump up the budget by about 100 million levs. Apart from it, for the items which are traditionally problematic for the municipalities, like education, health care and culture, we have worked out special support projects. We can hardly be blamed for being politically biased, we are working as experts. We are solving real problems, e.g. the deficit in municipal budgets. The average yearly deficit in municipal budgets in recent years has been about 300 million levs. This year it was cut down to 200 million. In the next year it will be reduced to minimum, while the trend is to bring it down to zero in 2004.
- Leader of MRF Ahmed Dogan said that for 12 years running the heavy investors have been driven away from Bulgaria because such was the political commission. How would you comment on it?
- It is very important that the serious investors who come to Bulgaria should have good financial potential and be willing to invest in respective sectors. The ventures must not go into the hands of people who would later sell them out piece by piece.
- Do you have enough to do as a deputy minister of justice in the commission that works on corruption warnings?
- There's much to be desired, we have to work hard to achieve better efficiency. We have received a lot of signals about corruption which we are to consider now. It appears that the medium-level echelon is most corruptible.
(Abm)
Russia will take measures if Georgia fails to wipe out terrorists - Putin.
Interfax
If Georgia fails to take action towards wiping out terrorists on its territory, Russia will take appropriate measures.
Russian President Vladimir Putin made this statement in messages to the UN secretary general and the leaders of the permanent members of the UN Security Council, the presidential press service told Interfax on Thursday.
"What is implied is that if the Georgian leadership fails to take specific action to wipe out terrorists, and if bandit sorties from its territory continue to occur, Russia will take appropriate measures to oppose the terrorist threat in strict conformity with international law," the press service's statement reads.
Putin Considers Strikes on Georgia.
The Moscow Times
By Simon Saradzhyan and Natalia Yefimova
Staff Writers In his harshest warning yet to Georgia, President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday ordered the military to draft plans for possible strikes on Georgian territory, where Russia believes Chechen rebels are hiding.
As the basis for his order, Putin cited a United Nations Security Council resolution approved a month after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. The resolution requires states to help prevent terrorist acts and deny safe haven to terrorists and their sponsors.
Putin told a meeting of senior security and defense officials in Sochi that he had asked top military brass "to study the feasibility of striking" bases run by Chechen rebels in the crime-infested Pankisi Gorge. Such strikes would be carried out if Chechen rebels cross into Georgia while being pursued by Russian forces, Putin said.
"The Defense Ministry and other defense and security agencies will make proposals for planning special operations aimed at destroying rebel groups if attempts to penetrate Russia resume," Putin said in televised remarks.
He said the Foreign Ministry would alert the UN Security Council and allies in the U.S.-led war against terror that Russia felt Georgia was violating UN anti-terrorist resolutions.
Putin cited Article 51 of the UN Charter and UN Security Council Resolution 1373. The UN Charter allows use of force against other states for self-defense. The United States pressed for the approval of Resolution 1373 after the Sept. 11 attacks.
Georgian President Eduard Shevardnadze did not immediately comment on Putin's remarks.
His aide Levan Alexidze, however, said Article 51 does not apply to the current situation, Interfax reported.
Russia has repeatedly argued that Georgia is unable to rid the Pankisi Gorge of militant fighters without help from Russia. The military has complained for months that Chechen rebels hiding in the Pankisi Gorge were crossing into Russia to carry out attacks. Russian troops have reported furious clashes near the border in recent weeks and said their hands were tied after rebels crossed back into Georgia.
The United States has said it suspects that members of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida network may be camped out in the gorge.
Last month, Georgia launched an operation there by police and security forces and announced the sweep well in advance, leaving no element of surprise.
Shevardnadze said earlier this month that the search had turned up only "a few dozen militants."
Alexidze, who advises the Georgian president on international law, said Chechen rebels have made no incursions and expressed surprise that Putin was considering strikes at a time when Georgia "was making concrete efforts to enforce law and order in Pankisi."
Georgian Security Minister Valery Khaburdzania said there was "no particular alarm" in Tbilisi over Putin's statement and promised that Georgia was "ready for any surprises." He said Chechen rebels had no bases in Pankisi but added that small groups could be hiding in the mountains.
Putin said Russia will resort to the "inalienable right of self-defense."
"If the Georgian leadership fails to create a security zone in the area of the Russian-Georgian border [and] fails to prevent outrages and incursions into Russia's neighboring areas," he said.
He said "nobody can deny" that Pankisi harbors suspected participants in the Sept. 11 attacks and the apartment blasts that killed more than 300 people in four Russian cities in 1999.
Putin accused Tbilisi of turning a blind eye to the presence of Chechen rebels in Pankisi and failing to extradite those captured. He said there are "hundreds of terrorists" hiding on Georgian territory and dismissed Georgia's "so-called" counter-terrorism operation in Pankisi as a show. Unlike Pankisi, "the infrastructure of international terrorism has been destroyed" in Chechnya, Putin said. He praised federal forces for having dealt "a strong, palpable blow ... to bandit groups" in Chechnya.
Hours before the president issued his statement, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov came crashing down on Georgia for supporting Chechen "terrorists."
In a speech before lawmakers, Ivanov juxtaposed Georgia and Iraq, saying that Tbilisi's role in supporting terrorism had been proven far more conclusively than Baghdad's, State Duma deputies present at the session said.
"There was an attempt by terrorists to make a breakthrough from Georgia in late July, early August," Ivanov told reporters after the speech, which was off-limits to the press. "You saw those who were arrested. Where are those people? Where are those terrorists?"
The Foreign Ministry on Wednesday reiterated its demand that Georgia extradite 13 alleged Chechen rebels who were detained last month on the border between the two countries.
The ministry said it had sent a diplomatic note calling on Georgia not to delay surrendering the fighters to Russia. It said Moscow had sent additional documents to Tbilisi "undeniably proving the fighters' and terrorists' participation in criminal activity on Russian territory," The Associated Press reported.
3 Groups Already Squabbling Over Oil-Flush North Iraq.
New York Times
By CRAIG S. SMITH
ANKARA, Turkey, Sept. 11 While the Bush administration has yet to decide whether to attack Iraq, rival ethnic groups in the north of that country are already squabbling over the spoils of any future war.
Their focus is Kirkuk, a city with vast reserves of high-quality oil so close to the surface that in one area natural gas escaping from the ground has been on fire since antiquity. Iraq's Arabs control the city, but both ethnic Kurds and the Turkmen minority claim it as their own and all three groups want power over it and its oil if Saddam Hussein falls.
"We will have control of this city; that is what we are fighting for," said Mustafa Ziya, the Ankara representative of the Iraqi Turkmen Front, a coalition of 26 Turkmen groups vying for representation in a post-Hussein Iraqi government. They have the backing of Turkey, which has yet to voice support for American military action against Iraq but wants a finger in the Iraqi pie should the Bush administration make a successful move.
Yet, the Kurdish Democratic Party, the more powerful of two Kurdish groups that control northern Iraq, is determined to make Kirkuk the political capital and economic heart of a Kurdish federal state in a future Iraq. It has already drafted an Iraqi constitution outlining such a state with Kirkuk as its most important city.
"Kirkuk is a Kurdish city," said Safeen Dizayee, the K.D.P.'s representative in Ankara. "Even the Ottoman archives show that."
The brewing battle suggests that any fighting inside Iraq will not end with Mr. Hussein's ouster and that the United States may be drawn into mediating Iraqi factional disputes or risk unleashing a blood bath if it succeeds in unseating the current government.
The dispute also puts the Bush administration between rival groups on whom it would have to depend in any war. The United States is likely to use Turkish air bases to attack Iraq and is expected to ask for support from the northern Iraqi Kurds, whose forces number in the tens of thousands.
The Kirkuk dispute flared last week when the K.D.P.'s leader, Massoud Barzani, was quoted in a German newspaper as saying that he would "never allow Turks to take over even a millimeter of our soil," and that if Turkey invaded northern Iraq, his fighters would turn the territory into a "graveyard for Turkish soldiers."
Those comments, which Mr. Barzani has since said were "distorted" by the press, prompted the deputy speaker of the Turkish Parliament on Friday to suggest that Ankara declare an autonomous region in northern Iraq for the Turkmen minority, a Turkic people with historical ties to Turkey and who are Iraq's third-largest ethnic group. That region would include oil-rich Kirkuk.
Already, Turkey has threatened to intervene in northern Iraq if the Kurds there declare an independent state or attack the Turkmen minority in any battle for Kirkuk that might follow possible American action. Turkey has soldiers in northern Iraq, although the deputy governor in charge of the only land crossing between Turkey and Iraq has denied reports that the country had moved another 1,000 troops across the border in recent days.
Kirkuk lies at the southwestern edge of the Kurds' traditional homeland and was peopled by Turkmen groups during the Ottoman empire. The city was still under Ottoman control at the end of World War I, when the British seized it for its oil and later incorporated it into Iraq. The Kurds have long argued that it is their territory and want the economic power that it would give a Kurdish federal state.
The Kurds occupied Kirkuk after the 1991 Persian Gulf war, only to be routed by Iraqi troops a few days later in what became a devastating mass exodus of Kurds from the region until the United States and Britain gave them protection by creating a "no-flight zone" north of the 36th parallel. That zone does not cover Kirkuk, however, which has remained in Mr. Hussein's hands and is a principal source of his income today under the United Nations' food-for-oil program. The program allows the export of a limited amount of crude oil from Kirkuk and Iraq's other major oil-producing region, in the country's south.
In an attempt to change the ethnic makeup of the Kirkuk area, Mr. Hussein has settled Arabs in the city and pressured the Kurdish and Turkmen groups alike to change their legal ethnic identity to Arab or lose their right to own property or even to live in Kirkuk. The Arab majority will certainly try to retain control of the region if Mr. Hussein is removed.
Turkey, which produces little oil of its own, has its own economic interests at stake. A long line of Turkish tanker trucks cross the border daily on their way to Kirkuk to fill up with Iraqi oil, a technically illegal trade outside the United Nations oil-for-food program that is tolerated by the United States and its allies because of the damage the Turkish economy has suffered from the economic sanctions against Iraq.
Turkey also opposes Kurdish control of Kirkuk because that would strengthen Kurdish autonomy and, they say, encourage the estimated 20 million ethnic Kurds in Turkey to also demand autonomy. Turkey has fought a 15-year war with Kurdish separatists in the southeastern part of its country and many Turks remain convinced that the fast-growing Kurdish minority harbors a desire for a Kurdish state within Turkey or even an independent Kurdistan.
"A federal state in northern Iraq will be the first step on the way to an independent Kurdish state," said Umit Ozdag, chairman of the conservative Turkish policy institute, Asam. "And it will be impossible to establish a federal state divided on ethnic lines without blood."
Sevket Bulent Yahnici, an official with M.H.P., one of the parties in Turkey's governing coalition, put it more bluntly: "If the Kurds declare a separate state in northern Iraq, we will be forced to invade."
The Day Nothing Changed, Balkans and September 11.
Antiwar.com
Nebojsa Malic
"The world has changed. Nothing is the same any more." Those were the two most common sentiments last year, in the shell-shocked aftermath of Black Tuesday, as the horrors of war stopped being something that happened elsewhere.
A year later, those phrases ring hollow along with the pledges to fight "terrorism" and "evil."
Georgian Prosecutor General Nugzar Gabrichidze told Interfax that Tbilisi was not dragging its feet on the extraditions. "Tbilisi is currently carrying out all the procedures required to make this decision," he was quoted as saying.
On September 13, 2001, this column warned:
"One cannot fight terrorism and use it at the same time. Understanding this would be a giant leap forward in the struggle against all those who treat human beings as 'collateral damage,' and who see nothing wrong with mass murder, as long as it serves their purpose."
Such understanding never happened. Instead, there was plenty of "collateral damage," duplicity, occupation, hypocrisy, stupidity, and malice. Within two weeks, lofty pronouncements had fallen flat in the mud of Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia.
'Our' Terrorists And Theirs.
The first real test in the aftermath of Black Tuesday was not Afghanistan, but the Balkans specifically, the relationship the U.S. had with Islamic fundamentalists among the Bosnian Muslims, and the Albanian separatist movements in and around Kosovo. Both have had connections with Osama Bin Laden and his associates. The time was right to re-examine America's Balkans policies of the past decade, and possibly even extricate itself from an Imperial commitment in the peninsula that seemed irrelevant and wasteful in the light of the new "War on Terror."
Was this done? No. Quite to the contrary, Washington has accepted the predictable whitewash of Balkans terrorists by the infamous International Crisis Group, and chose to continue all its Balkans policies. Results have been predictable: the continued growth of militant Islam in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the escalating violence of Albanians in Kosovo and Macedonia. These developments have not only been tolerated, they've been helped by Imperial actions, especially the ongoing vilification of Serbs and Macedonians.
Viper in the Bosom.
As late as last October, six Algerians given Bosnian citizenship by the Izetbegovic regime were arrested on suspicion of plotting terrorist attacks on U.S. installations.
Yet thanks to massive amounts of propaganda, there has been an entrenched belief in the West that the Bosnian Muslims had fought for a multi-ethnic, democratic Bosnia and peaceful coexistence with all, and were innocent victims of aggression and genocide by vicious, nationalist Serbs and Croats.
Asked why these scions of multi-ethnic democracy and religious tolerance tend to erupt into rage after losing soccer games, while chanting "Allah-u-akbar" and waving the green banners of Jihad; or why their children join Wahhabi cults and go off to fight "holy wars" in distant foreign lands, apologists usually retort that all that has to be a reaction to the West's indifference to atrocities they have suffered.
Yet there is a mountain of evidence contradicting the explanation that militant Islam in Bosnia is a recent, reactive phenomenon. One could find it in Bosnia's Ottoman past, as the bulwark of Dar-al-Islam against the Western infidels. It was certainly present during World War Two, when the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem Mohammed Hajj Amin al-Husseini helped organize a Waffen SS Division made up of Bosnian Muslims.
Alija Izetbegovic has certainly always been an Islamic militant, ever since his youthful days in the Nazi-sponsored "Young Muslims." In 1970, he wrote and published "The Islamic Declaration," a blueprint for creating Islamic states out of secular societies. In 1990, he manipulated his way into leading Bosnia's collective presidency, undermined all attempts to negotiate an inter-ethnic settlement, and eagerly pushed Bosnia into internecine warfare by insisting on its international recognition as a unitary state.
Though he retired from public office in 2000, reportedly at U.S. request, Izetbegovic has continued to pull the strings of Bosnian Muslim politics. Even if his party does not regain power in the upcoming election, an allegedly "moderate" splinter party heavily influenced by his ideology looks likely to make gains. Almost every Bosnian Muslim politician has been in Izetbegovic's orbit at one time or another.
So while militants are a minority in Bosnian Muslim ranks, their ideology dominates Muslim politics. And thanks to the myth of multi-ethnic victimhood, it enjoys American and European support.
Reign of Terror
Murder; arson; assassination of political opponents; ethnic cleansing; regular acts of violence against civilians; killing of law enforcement and other government officials; destruction of holy places: had anyone done this in the United States, they would have been instantly labeled terrorists. Yet the "Kosovo Liberation Army" has done it for five years, the last three on UN's payroll.
Kosovo is an international aberration: a piece of one country's sovereign territory occupied by the UN and NATO after an illegal aggression, it has been used as a launching pad for aggression against inner Serbia and the neighboring Macedonia. Yet both have been dismissed as "human rights" issues, and their perpetrators given amnesty and lucrative political appointments.
Two weeks ago, a group of "unidentified gunmen" attacked several remaining Serbs as they gathered wood near the Kosovo village of Gorazdevac. They then shot at the UN police that attempted to intervene, and even attacked the Italian occupation troops that were called to help. One assailant was captured and, unsurprisingly, turned out to be Albanian.
It might be understandable that the UN and NATO have chosen to ignore the Albanian militants' incessant attacks on Serbs, which have so far killed several thousand and forced over 300,000 out of the province. But one would think they would go ballistic when their own come under fire. It has happened before, in Mitrovica and along the demarcation line with inner Serbia, and both times the NATO response has been subdued but firm.
Now, however, the UN is choosing to blame the Serbs for the terrorist attack in Gorazdevac. Adding insult to injury, a UN spokesman is blaming "lack of funds" for the UN's inability to let the expelled Kosovo Serbs return to the charred ruins of their homes. And this after they'd spent millions building four-story homes for immigrant Albanians, or funding the "Kosovo Protection Corps"!
In Guise of 'Human Rights'
One could possibly find some justification for Albanian militants' terrorism in Kosovo, if it stayed in Kosovo. But it continues to plague the neighboring Macedonia, where the "peace" forced upon the Macedonians as a result of the KLA's "human rights" struggle in 2001, is claiming new victims almost every day.
Two police officers gunned down at a traffic stop; five civilians abducted, one tortured, as a reaction to arrests of the perpetrators. Yet the militant Albanians who claimed responsibility (a terrorist trademark) were allowed to escape, after US and European pressure on Macedonian authorities.
Even if Macedonians were allowed to suppress terrorism in their own country, and they aren't, what chance of success do they have when the terrorists can simply retreat into the safe haven of NATO-occupied Kosovo? Discoveries of Albanian weapons caches along the border with Macedonia have become routine, and no one has been held responsible certainly not the UN and NATO, ostensibly in charge of keeping the "peace".
Malicious Manipulations.
What other conclusion is one to draw from all this, than that "terrorism" is labeled as such only when directed against Americans and regimes Washington supports?
How can anyone, in face of this prima facie evidence that the U.S. is backing Balkans factions whose actions are undeniably terrorist in both methods and aims, argue that the U.S. is fighting a "War on Terror" and "evil" all over the world?
But it gets worse. Now the paladins of "humanitarian bombing" are using what they got away with in Bosnia and Kosovo to further new bloodshed, all under the guise of "fighting terrorism." Yet what is "regime change" other than an effort to replace a government through use of force: a textbook definition of terrorism?
A few months back, when the International Criminal Court formally came into being based on the US-created ad hoc "tribunals" for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia Washington insisted on immunity for its "peacekeepers" across the world, using Bosnia as a hostage. Then it set out to bully Bosnia, Croatia, Yugoslavia and other states into signing bilateral immunity agreements.
Empire, Forever?
As flags, ribbons and mellow speeches commemorated the anniversary of that cruel Tuesday morning a year ago, did anyone wonder about the widening gap between American leaders' rhetoric and deeds? Did anyone ask how it was possible to bomb one country in support of terrorists, yet bomb another in a war against them?
Fifty years ago, Garet Garrett wrote, "We have crossed the boundary that lies between Republic and Empire. [] And now, not far ahead, is a sign that reads: 'No U-turns'."
The aftermath of Black Tuesday was a golden opportunity to redefine America as a Republic, not an Empire. It was missed. Instead, September 11 seems to have become a "bloody shirt," bestowing instant approval onto anyone who invokes it in defense of any action. In an act of supreme cynicism, an Oscar-winning Bosnian director recently attempted to link it with the 1995 events in Srebrenica.
Surely, the victims of September 11 deserve better.
- Nebojsa Malic
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