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STATEMENTS OF THE WORLD INTELLECTUALS
PUBLISHED DURING THE NATO BOMBING OF
YUGOSLAVIA, MARCH-JUNE 1999
Henry Kissinger
Rambouillet agreement untenable
It is absurd to claim that economic prosperity of
European Union, whose gross national profit is greater
than American, depends on results in poor Kosovo.
That's even less truth concerning NATO's prosperity.
NATO's cohesion is above all endangered because it
(Alliance) has bonded with an untenable Rambouillet
agreement.
The document from Rambouillet was sold to the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA), which has rejected it at first,
as an instrument to point all the NATO's force against
Serbia and it might forced Milosevic to accelerate his
retribution against KLA before bombs started to fall.
Serbs rejected Rambouillet because they have realized
it as an introduction to the Kosovo's independence. They
also understand the presence of NATO's troops as a
kind of foreign occupation, the thing Serbia has always
opposed to, as faced with Ottoman and Austrian empire,
Hitler and Stalin, and even if they are forced with
bombs to capitulate, it is hard to expect they would be
willing to support such a result…
Speaking of KLA, its goal is the independence and not
autonomy. It has accepted the Rambouillet agreement as
a tactical instrument to point NATO's air power against
Serbs that they hate. Because of that, KLA is less
willing to accept autonomy under Serbian rule now that
Serbia is that much weakened with the NATO's air
campaign.
("BETA" news agency, April 5, 1999)
Alexander Solzhenitsyn
The Law Of The Jungle
Rejecting the United Nations Organization, trampling
underfoot its Charter, NATO forced upon the whole
world and the century to come the ancient Law - the
Law of the jungle: the one that has the power is always
right. The condemned opponent should be surpassed in
violence, even a hundredfold, if technically advanced.
This is the world we are ordered to live in from now
on.
Before the eyes of mankind, a beautiful country is being
devastated and the civilized governments applaud. And
people in desperation are leaving the underground
shelters, going out to die in live chains, to save the
bridges over the River of Danube. I see no reason for
Clinton, Blair and Solana to start burning and ruining
them.
(Statement given to the Itar-TASS News Agency)
Carlos Fuentes
Dangerous Precedent
The unilateral action of the NATO reinstalls very
dangerous precedent.
As the Alliance didn't have the approval of the UN
Security Council, other regional organizations could
operate without the approval of the international
organization in the future as well, stating the
"humanitarian reasons" which could be found all over
the world.
Is Kurd's drama in Turkey lesser ? Of course, not. But
Turkey is a member of the NATO and released from the
original sin.
"Politika" according to AFP, April 18, 1999
Alexander Zinovyev
Extermination as a Purpose
This enemy is far more powerful than the fascist
Germany. He is violent, ruthless, crooked and
mendacious. His intentions toward us the Russians and
you the Serbs are the same: to break us, and as the
endpoint - exterminate us. We the Russians are already
suffering the damage brought to us by this enemy, a far
greater damage than the one we experienced during the
war against Germany. We have already been pushed to
the road of degradation and withering. Your fate is
similar to ours in many ways. We, the Russians, have
capitulated faced with this enemy. We have betrayed
everything achieved at the cost of unbelievable
sacrifices during the past years. We have betrayed all
the ones that were by us and looked at us full of hope.
We are now becoming the West's zone of colonization.
And you are holding on. You are fighting for your
independence. I am ashamed on behalf of my people.
And I admire your decisiveness to resist the enemy,
stronger than you ten times, a hundred times even; to
resist him at the time the most powerful means of the
western propaganda are slandering you and showering
you with rubbish, mobilizing against you hundreds of
millions made stupid in the West. This is a historic feat.
You resistance is not the struggle for Serbia only. This
is a struggle for us, the Russians, who have shamefully
fled the field of historic battles. This is the battle for the
entire humankind threatened by the militant western
imperialism. No matter how your resisting the western
aggressor ends, you have won, by the sheer fact of
resisting, decisiveness to fight for independence, for you
own road toward progress. And in this your battle, I am
with you! I want you to hold on with such a spirit till the
end! Bravo, Serbs!
(Letter to the Serbs, VECERNJE NOVOSTI)
Theo Angelopoulos
Distinctive Fascism
Let my voice join the voices of people from all over the
world who support the struggle of the Serbian people
against this American assault. I admire the courage and
dignity of your people, I also admire your decision to
say NO.
The history of Europe, from now on, will be written in
many more words of NO to this distinctive fascism
named THOSE IN POWER HAVE THE RIGHT,
systematically imposed by the only remaining
super-power.
(Letter to Director of the Yugoslav Film Archive,
dated March 29, 1999 - from Athens)
Aleksei the Second
The Dictate And The Force
Several powerful and rich countries, brazenly
considering themselves as "the sacred" touchstones of
good and evil are trampling underfoot the will of the
people wishing to live in a different way. The bombs
and the rockets are not being dropped all over this
country aiming to defend someone. The painful NATO
lesson has another objective - to bring down the
postwar order in the world and force upon it the order
based upon dictate and force. But the injustice and
hypocrisy will never win.
The Lord said to his pupils : " In the world ye shall
have tribulation; be of good cheer; I have overcome the
world" (St. John 16:33). I would like to address these
words to the much suffering brothers - the Orthodox
Christians in Yugoslavia. The violence brought to you
can not bring the moral victory to its initiators since
"God is not in strength, but in the truth".
(From the interview given to Nadja Andrejevic
especially for NIN, April 22, 1999)
Patrick Besson
Messages To The Serbian People
My dear Serbian friends, I saw and heard you
comparing Bill Clinton to Adolph Hitler. Hitler did
not deserve that.
I admit that Clinton and Hitler have a lot in common:
the ambition to dominate the world by means of arms,
wish to exploit the poor and annex the rich countries,
and also to destroy the people that resist them: Hitler
the Jews and the Serbs, Clinton the Iraqis and the
Serbs.
And yet… When Hitler had an affair with his
secretary, Eva Braun, he married her… admittedly,
too late. Yet, there was a wedding, and to the women
this is important.
When Hitler attacked a country, he destroyed its
population by bombs, like Clinton, and then sent the
ground troops, while Clinton, let us remember,
prefers to keep his "boys" far from the operations.
The warrior who is not going to die is called the
executioner.
(POLITIKA, April 7, 1999)
The Humanitarian Genocide
Yesterday afternoon the American President
explained that in defending the human rights in
Kosovo, he is bombing Novi Sad night by night. At
the same occasion, we learnt that Novi Sad is situated
in Kosovo. And we thought Novi Sad was in
Vojvodina.
We looked at the upside down map.
All the Europe and America colonial campaigns were
started in the name of humanitarian principles.
And now, in the name of humanitarian principles,
nineteen rich countries have decided to devastate a
small, poor nation named Yugoslavia - killing women
and children at their houses or in trains, night after
night.
What happens to a country that has no factories, no
roads, no bridges, no oil reserves? To a country in
which, in the years to come, women and children will
be dying of famine, of cold and the lack of medicines.
There is a word for this.
The word is - genocide.
However, since is it being performed by civilized and
democratic countries, it would be necessary to say
that it is a civilized and a democratic genocide.
And a humanitarian genocide.
It was destined that two revolutions occur at the end
of the twentieth century: the cellular phone and the
humanitarian genocide.
April 13, 1999
Brigitte Bardot
Ashamed of The Groudless War
I am scandalized by this unacceptable war for which
there is not one reason. I am ashamed for being French
and against my will responsible for my government's
imputed attitude toward our European brothers. I admire
the courage and the spirit of Serbs faced with such
unjust and stupid coalition of the Western governments.
I regret very much the sad state of the people in Kosovo,
the sufferings of all the civilians paying with their own
lives for the horrible American force and the pitiful
joining of France to this dangerous and dramatic
"purposeful war". No war can be purposeful. I support now
and always will support the ones fighting to save their
country, their identity, their religion, their nationality
and their tradition. I admire you, Serbs.
(BLIC, April 18, 1999)
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These statements are taken from the book
THE TWILIGHT OF THE WEST
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