FROM CAMPEACE
10 Dalegarth Hurst Park Avenue Cambridge CB4 2AG campeace@altavista.co.uk
24 June 2001

TO: President Kostunica Federal President of Yugoslavia Belgrade

Dear President Kostunica,

CamPeace,(Cambridge Campaign for Peace) is an organisation which evolved from Cambridge Against NATO's War in the Balkans, which was established more than two years ago to oppose the criminal bombing of your country.

Thousands of people in the United Kingdom protested against this illegal action, and campaigned for the lifting of sanctions against Yugoslavia.

Now we see you presiding over a coup in your country, acting completely unconstitutionally (you who pride yourself on being a "legalist") as you allow your DOS colleagues to force through this illegal compliance with the Hague War Crimes Tribunal. You and the DOS Government are capitulating to those forces that destroyed Yugoslavia, and for what? For 30 silver coins which Yugoslavia will have to pay back many times over.

We urge you not to be intimidated by the bullies, we urge you not to yield to these illegal pressures. You must stop the blackmail. Call their bluff. Otherwise you are delivering your country into the hands of international gangsters.

If Milosevic goes to The Hague, then his trial will turn into the trial of a nation, ie Serbia, to the delight of Madeleine Albright and other "friends" of Serbia. It will justify the bombing of Yugoslavia and "prove" that the NATO gangsters were moved by humanitarian concerns.

We are not supporters of Milosevic, but we are supporters of a better world in which the law will be adhered to, instead of a world dominated by international gangsters.

You must be strong, resist blackmail, speak the truth about Rambouillet, speak the truth about this blackmail and the proud Serbian people will support you, and the peoples of the world will show their solidarity with the Serbian people.

With best wishes,

Yours sincerely,
Sara Payne
Polydoros Polydorou
David Grove
Chairmen, Cambridge Campaign for Peace

PROCLAMATION OF THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA
Belgrade, June 23, 2001

Respected citizens!

An attempt at treason and shameful capitulation of the country is going
on! The decree by which members of the DOS politburo in the Federal Government have accepted extradition of our citizens to the Hague Tribunal is an unprecedented anticonstitutional and antipopular act that puts in question the survival of the federal state, our freedom, and our sovereignty.

This unprecedented decision has been prepared and followed by a series
of lies and manipulations such as: alleged commitments accepted in Dayton, alleged unity of the international community, alleged prospects of our better treatment in donors' conferences... They've been telling us that if we cooperate with the Hague Tribunal the NATO countries will forgive the interest [on alleged international debts] that accrued during the period of embargo and aggression, but they haven't been admitting that we shall pay many times more by losing the right to receive war reparations, and by being compelled to pay 'compensation' to Bosnia and Croatia and by allowing our economy to be sold at bargain prices.

This decision is unprecedented in world history. Its real aim is the amnesty of NATO criminals and the imposition of collective guilt on the Serbian people, guilt for all past and future suffering in the region. In this way the Serbian people would lose all prospectives and become an object of mass deportations to foreign political judges of the Hague Tribunal, financed by George Soros and American agencies.

DOS just destroyed the Federal Government. Due to resistance in Montenegro, they want to destroy the Federal State as well. They are attacking the Yugoslav Army.

The Presidents of Yugoslavia and Serbia are not only failing to protect the constitutional order, but are also becoming a cover for its undermining. DOS blackmails and misuses the judiciary. The economic system has been decimated and poverty has become massive. Education, health-care, and culture are ruined. The country drowns hopelessly deep.

Respected citizens,

Say decisively NO to these traitors against the people and the country! Say NO to the ones ready to sell the Serbian soul and honor for a handful of dollars!

A people who deserve the admiration of the world for its heroism can not accept this major humiliation! The Serbian people will never recognize their capitulation!

Let us unite to protect democracy, sovereignty and constitutional order! Let us protect Slobodan Milosevic and each citizen of this country!

THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA
Head Committee
Belgrade, June 23, 2001
THE STATEMENT

The Executive Committee of the Socialist Party of Serbia warns that the decision of the DOS Politburo to adopt a federal decree authorizing extradition of Yugoslav citizens to the Hague Tribunal represents a most severe violation of the Constitution and paves the way for the imposition of martial law in the country.

Since the DOS regime has failed in its attempt to pass the anticonstitutional [extradition] law in Parliament, they decided to simply adopt a decree which in its essence abolishes the multiparty parliamentary system.

In so doing DOS has taken control over the state by decrees; there is nothing left of the rule of law. The Federal Government is not working. The Presidents of Yugoslavia and Serbia who are obliged to protect the Constitution as well as the interests and dignity of the people and the country are not reacting to this major violation of the Constitution and even more, they are serving to cover for this policy that produces serious harm to the country and the people. The interests of the people can not be subordinated to anyone's personal, leadership, or political ambitions. No one has right to violate the Constitution which forbids extradition of our citizens, nor can anyone agree to commitments [such as this one to deport Yugoslav citizens] in contradiction to the interests of the people.

No one has right to diminish and insult the thousands of victims of NATO aggression, nor to forgive the mass destruction and grant amnesty to the people responsible for crimes against peace and humanity. The aim of the DOS decree is, by the surrender of our citizens, to impose collective guilt on the Serbian people for everything that happened in the past. The actions of DOS and of the Soros representatives in the Federal Government are unprecedented in world history. All those who are taking part in it or are agreeing with it must be clear that they bear the responsibility for unforeseeable consequences. Since they act contrary to the Constitution and to their powers - both they and the so-called International Community must know that Serbian people and our citizens will never recognize the legitimacy of these actions.

The leadership of the Socialist Party of Serbia, on behalf of its highest Party organs and on behalf of its Parliamentary Groups in the Federal and Serbian Assemblies, has sent a letter to the president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Vojislav Kostunica, demanding that this violation of the Constitution be stopped, as well as the system of capitulation derived from the anticonstitutional decree on extradition.

THE SOCIALIST PARTY OF SERBIA
Belgrade, June 23, 2001
THE STATEMENT

The Socialist Party of Serbia underlines that by today's DOS decree an unprecedented coup has been carried out against the constitutional order of the country. The constitutional protection of all citizens of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and in the first place of the defenders of the fatherland [the Army and police] has been abolished.

The Socialist Party of Serbia, as the largest opposition party, considers this to be a disgraceful fraud against the people, who will never accept the legitimacy of such an act.

The Socialist Party of Serbia decided to send immediately an appeal to the Federal Constitutional Court to judge the legality of the decree of the DOS part of the Federal Government.

The Socialist Party of Serbia expects that the Federal Constitutional
Court will:

1. Declare the decree issued by the DOS members of the Federal Government unconstitutional, since the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Constitution of the Republic of Serbia explicitly forbid the extradition of their citizens;

2. Issue an injunction against the implementation of any individual act or action that might be based on this unconstitutional decree, since it can lead to irreversible harmful consequences for the interests of the people and state, until a final decision will be made.

WE ACCUSE:
AID PROMISES ARE A TRAITOROUS LIE!
Socialist Party of Serbia Statement, 31 May

For the leaders of a country to tell the people in that country that they should extradite patriots in exchange for money from the forces which have bombed that country - is an outrage.
But for leaders of a country to pretend that they are getting money from the bombers when they know perfectly well they are not - to tell the people that they should support the jailing of their patriots in exchange for money which these leaders know does not exist - this is the worst treason.
The present authorities in Belgrade are guilty of treason.
No Donors' Conference has ever given any money to any country. The term "Donors'' is itself a deception. The proper title is ''Creditors' Conference.'' If a "Donors' Conference" takes place in June it will be a meeting of the banks that claim Yugoslavia owes them money. The purpose of that meeting, like the purpose of all Donors' Conferences, will be to plan how to sell Yugoslav property so they can get back the money they claim they are owed as quickly as possible.
To whom will they sell Yugoslav industries to get their money? To themselves, basically.
How much will they sell it for? Pennies on the dollar.
How much of the so-called Yugoslav debt will get paid in this way? Very little.
What will happen to the industry that the 'Donors' scoop up in this fashion? Wherever such industries might compete with some industry from the 'Donor' countries, the factories will be closed down.
Let us take an example that occurred in Hungary, a country whose leaders have more than cooperated with the U.S. The U.S. firm, General Electric, bought the big light bulb factory in Hungary and closed it down. Now Hungarians have to buy light bulbs imported by GE.
This has happened in dozens of countries.
Donors' Conferences helped plan the devastation of the economies of:

* Ukraine - went from the bread basket of Europe to being dependant on Western surplus "food")
* Bulgaria - industry stripped and shut down)
* Russia - wages fell almost 90% overnight)
* Vietnam - after the "Donors' Conference" its industry was stripped to raise the money to pay off 'debts'. This was particularly vicious because those 'debts' had been accumulated by the puppet regime of South Vietnam. South Vietnam incurred the 'debts' when it bought weapons from the U.S. to fight Vietnamese patriots!
That's what a Donors' Conference does.
Sometimes the real work takes place after the official Conference is over, in meetings of the so-called Paris and London Clubs, which are made up, respectively, of big commercial and national banks from the US and Europe.
But one thing no Donors' Conference has ever, anywhere in the world done is give 1 billion dollars - or in fact any money - to a country which supposedly owes these banks money. If they do lend any money on paper they immediately take it away.
That is, a little money may be lent with one hand, but it will be immediately taken away with the other hand, to "repay the debt."
This has already happened with millions of dollars supposedly "given" to Yugoslavia by the international community. As is reported in a text by Dr. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky: "
"The [IMF] Board approved a loan [of] US $151 million under the IMF's policy on emergency post-conflict assistance in support of a program to stabilize the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's economy and help rebuild administrative capacities. Of this amount, the [Belgrade] authorities will draw... US $130 million to repay the bridge loans they received [from Switzerland and Norway] to eliminate arrears with the IMF."" (Quoted in "Economic Terrorism," by Dr. Prof. Michel Chossudovsky)
In other words, the authorities in Belgrade borrowed money from Switzerland and Norway to pay money owed to the IMF. Then they borrowed money from the IMF - and that was used to pay Switzerland and Norway!
This is a con game.
Sometimes the truth about the phony "Donors' Conferences" leaks out. Consider this excerpt from a 'Reuters' news dispatch. 'Reuters' lists all the terrible things that will happen if Yugoslavia does not cooperate. The first thing is:

1. "The US will oppose Yugoslav loans and assistance from international financial institutions such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. At stake will be a planned $260 million loan from the IMF to back up reform of an economy on the verge of collapse after years of sanctions and warfare."
NOTE that they speak of loan not gift. No donation here!
Based on the evidence from past experience, this money may never be loaned. And even if it were loaned, it would immediately be used to pay back part of the supposed debt. No money would go to the economy or reach ordinary people. And then the $260 million that we never received would have to be paid back by selling our industries, by agreeing to purchase shoddy goods from the NATO countries and by agreeing to laws that eliminated social services in our country.
That is why every country that has relied on these phony loans has suffered. For 8 years we had no loans. Plus we had sanctions. But Rumania and Bulgaria which had no sanctions and which had loans lost all their industry and now their unemployed come to Yugoslavia looking for work.
We will always be better off helping ourselves than being saddled with parasites from the International Monetary Fund and World Bank who are in business to strip countries like ours of everything we have sweated to build.
Here's the second 'disastrous' consequence of not cooperating with Washington:
2. "[This will mean putting off] Belgrade's plans to start negotiating a debt settlement with the Paris Club of sovereign creditors and commercial banks of the London Club... Of its total $12.2 billion external debt, Yugoslavia owes some $5 billion to the Paris Club and around $3 billion to the London Club." ('Reuters', April 2, 2001)
So the "international community" claims Yugoslavia owes it at least $12 billion (US). And if Yugoslavia does not hand over Milosevic it will not have the pleasure of stripping all its industry to repay this debt. Wouldn't that be terrible?
And how does the "international community" figure that Yugoslavia owes it $12.2 billion dollars? This is almost entirely interest on debts supposedly owed by the now nonexistent Yugoslav Socialist Republic. Here is a news report from Dec. 31, 1992, which explains it all:
"From: 'Facts on File World News Digest,' December 31, 1992
"Headline: IMF Revokes Yugoslavia's Membership
"Text: The International Monetary Fund December 15 revoked Yugoslavia's membership and apportioned the country's foreign debt among what the financial institution designated as Yugoslavia's five successor republics. The IMF took the action on the grounds that Yugoslavia had ceased to exist as a legal entity.
"Yugoslavia's foreign debt was about $15 billion, including $217 million owed to the IMF and $2 billion owed to the World Bank.
"A total of 36.5% of the debt was apportioned to Serbia-Montenegro, the new Yugoslav federation, which the IMF treated as a single republic. Croatia was deemed to owe 28.5% of the debt; Bosnia-Herzegovina, 13.2%; Slovenia, 16.4%; and Macedonia, 5.4%."
[End of 'Facts on File' news dispatch]
So in 1992, the IMF simply decided to say that the Federal Republic owed 5.475 billion US dollars. Since it now says we owe over $12 billion, that means that almost $7 billion of the supposed debt is interest! And when did that interest get charged?
That interest got charged during the years of sanctions imposed by the same international community that now claims we owe all this interest!
Those sanctions hurt the Yugoslav economy to the tune of billions of dollars U.S.
By what right do these men, who starved Yugoslavia with sanctions, costing us billions, and then bombed Yugoslavia, causing us at least $60 billion in damage not to mention the incalculable cost in human death and suffering, the pain of relatives who lost loved ones, the psychological damage to children, forced to hide in shelters from bombs, the long term damage of depleted uranium - how dare these starvers and bombers now claim that Yugoslavia owes them money?
Who are these men?
A Donors' Conference would give no money to Yugoslavia.
The only result would be: devastation of the Yugoslav economy. The Donors would order a forced sale of Yugoslavia's precious industries for pennies on the dollar to the same bankers who make up the Donors' Conference.
And when it was all over, the debt would still be there.
Because the money raised would be too little - as it is always too little, in every country where these bankers have imposed this scam - to pay the debt. Because you see that is the whole idea. They use the inflated debt to get hold of the industry, and when it is all over, they leave the country stripped of all it sweated for years to build, of everything except - billions of dollars in debt.
We would gain nothing from this Donors' Conference.
But some things would be gone.
Our industry would be gone.
Our pride would be gone.
Our honor would be gone.
And our patriots, they would be gone as well, starting with Mr. Milosevic, but not ending with him. Not ending with him.
Let us not follow this fool's gold chase proposed by the present authorities in Belgrade. Let us rely on ourselves, on our integrity and our own hard work. Let us trade with friends, not with thieves who try to break us with the fake lure of suckers' gold.
When they speak of the urgency of this Donors' Conference, the present authorities in Belgrade speak with passion.
Their passion is real.
But it is not because they fear that if we do not go along with their proposals, Yugoslavia will lose money that it needs. On the contrary, they fear that if they do not produce for their masters in Washington, they will be punished.
For Washington has no friends, only future victims.
Washington has laid down the law to these Belgrade authorities.
It has told them: you are taking too much time. Give us Milosevic. Give us the patriots of the Yugoslav Army. Give us those who fought us in Bosnia and Croatia. Give them to us NOW. And give us everything of value in Yugoslavia.
Because if you do not we will take you - the DOS leaders - in their place.
- SPS, 31 May 2001

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL BACKS U.S. ATTACK ON MILOSHEVICH; A MEMBER PROTESTS
by Phillip Greenspan [23 May 2001]

To Amnesty International:
For several years I have been a member of Amnesty International [AI] and was very proud of its human and civil rights positions.
However, I was deeply disappointed when I opened the current edition of 'Amnesty Now' to see a circled request for members to urge the transfer of Slobodan Milosevic to the International Criminal Tribunal.
An organization that fights so hard on behalf of those unjustly punished should not be an instigator of just such an injustice. The exaggerated claims of atrocities have subsequently been shown to be completely false. Additionally, the International Criminal Tribunal as a court of justice is as shocking as those false atrocity charges.
So many articles have been published by reliable sources, on both the court and the atrocities (if you are unaware of them, I will provide you with some) that it should have, at least, caused hesitancy.
I may be mistaken to assume you are much too knowledgeable and intelligent to be duped by the lies of governments and their subservient media. It is extremely disheartening to find a worldwide human rights organization of your stature taking such a reprehensible action.
Sincerely,
Philip Greenspan
[Mr. Greenspan is a retired lawyer living in New York.]