Remembrance Day or Anniversary?
On March 24this year Serbs will observe Remembrance Day.- 10 years from NATO unprovoked bombing of one of the European state with majority of Serbian population. The Remembrance Day will be observed not only here in Serbian community in Toronto but Serbs everywhere in the world. On that day, the powerful NATO alliance attacked the country from the air without even declaring war to the Federative Republic of Yugoslavia, an already shortened country with the name of former SFR Yugoslavia after 1991 civil war in the Balkans. The leftover state after secession of republics Slovenia and Croatia and, as well as Bosnia and Herzegovina that split further into three entities after signing of Dayton Agreement. Tons of bombs fell on that small European country under pretext that Serbs killed civilians in Kosovo and Metohija and the proof was the famous massacre of Racak (Kosovo), replayed day and night on CNN and similar TV channels that later proved to be the faked scenery made by masters of all wars USA and its allies, European Union countries.
Changed character of NATO
NATO alliance made a precedent unheard-of and unseen in the recent history of mankind. By attacking a small country based on the false evidence and serving as the armed hand of USA sick ambition to rule the world, to be the world leader, NATO changed its character. From the originally defence organization it turned into an aggressive and oppressive alliance because it was the only way for its survival, once the USSR and Warsaw Pact ceased to exist. The attack was made against not only NATO charter but also against UN and European own security and other organizations statutes, as well as international law and Vienna convention about warring.
For
Serbs here in Canada it was a dreadful shock, as that dramatic event
was going on for 78 days. Many illusions about democracy, honesty and
ethics shattered, trust was destroyed. The most hurting for Serbs was
the fact that Canadian planes bombed Serbian land too.
The
plan of NATO alliance was to “destroy and degrade” the Serbian army
that to NATO amazement did not surrender after a few days as expected
and did not let NATO troops to march in.
Albanian population and their secessionist leaders returned to Kosovo and Metohija and even got rewarded for separatism and for all atrocious acts against Serbs and other non-Albanians. Since the Serbian population there together with the Serbian Orthodox Church were in possession of the largest part of lands and other property, Albanians who were at that time the majority, for years before NATO attack did everything to expel Serbs of Kosovo and Metohija by molesting them, burning their houses, occupying fields, cutting Serbs’ orchards and forests, destroying and burning Serbian old churches (some of them on UNICEF register as valuable world cultural heritage).
USA
and NATO circumvented UN and started bombing without UN involvement and
resolution and also in disregard of human rights of Serbs and
non-Albanians in Kosovo and Metohija. The criminal Albanian
organization UCKL was removed from the American terrorist list and its
members instead to be punished for crimes and atrocities done to Serbs
for a long period of time were promoted to the liberation army.
Punishment was reserved for Serbs as a rogue nation only. They were
indicated by USA and NATO to be the sole war instigators, aggressors,
war criminals and “bad guys” all over.
USA
and NATO never compensated for so called collateral damages made by
them such as killing of civilians, destroying bridges and other civil
objects and other infrastructure. Half of the country was destroyed in
bombing.
Instead, the sanctions earlier imposed on FRY remain in place, the Hague Tribunal was established, mostly prosecuting Serbs. NATO troops occupied Kosovo and Metohija for Albanians and made amends to them by letting them unpunished. and doing what they wanted to such an extent that 200 thousand of Serbs and non-Albanians were forced out, cleaned out from their ancestral land.
The remaining Serbian population is situated now in Northern
Mitrovica area and in a few enclaves with majority of Serbian
population. Under international protection of Kosovo and Metohija the
situation deteriorated further for Serbs. For them, there were no basic
human rights like freedom of movement, to work and build their and
their children’s future. A very large American military base was build
and after nine years of bombing and totally unlawful occupation by
various international forces Albanians declared independence, again
strongly supported by their mentors. In other words, a secession of a
large Serbian territory was completely masterminded like many other
previous scenarios by those who preach democracy.
Serbia and Montenegro, the former Federative Republic of Yugoslavia split peacefully, likely as a venue of democracy imported from the west. But all of former Yugoslavian republics except the smallest Republic Slovenia, were still on their road to Europe with many demands for social and economic changes and obedience to European Union and for “friendship” with NATO.
Many criminals involved are still free and prosperous
For all the misery brought to the Serbs in the Balkan civil wars and
conflicts nobody, no politician of these countries promoting democracy
was ever brought to court, and none of the commander of NATO forces was
judged for ordering intensive and ruthless air strikes, for killing
innocent civilians for the damage done extent of which was not even
completely determined. Especially the damage people’s health and soil
caused by depleted uranium and cluster bombs used by the Alliance.
Instead, NATO was promoted into peace keeping force by USA and helping
spreading democracy of western type now in Asia and wherever
necessary.. In other words, NATO has become a very convenient force for
USA in protecting American interests. Obviously, USA is already aiming
at countries and areas with richest in natural resource, especially in
oil, gas and other valuable minerals.
The latest discoveries from the Carla del Ponte’s book about Hague Tribunal affairs are gruesome. She wrote about trading with organs of the missing Serbs and non-Albanians from Kosovo and Metohija and lack of interest on western side to investigate it. All that was dine under auspices of the head of the organization Doctors without Borders who was also administering this Serbian territory in the name of the fake highest principles of democracy and humanitarian help. Was this a kind of American and other NATO interests, too? Or was it only an ugly revenge towards tne nation that refused to comply, a world often heard and used today in USA.
Even without this intriguing book of the former Chief Prosecutor of the Hague Tribunal, I am aware of dimensions of the misery and injustice brought to Serbian people again in the Balkans. I also had opportunity to visit Serbian enclaves in Kosovo and Metohija, Serbian churches surrounded with barbed wire and guarded by armed forces 10 years after the war. Still, after 10 years, relatives of those who did not survive the Albanian atrocities and bombing of USA and NATO will not see justice done. The greatest injustice and irony is that the international community expects Serbs in Kosovo and Metohija and everywhere in the world to accept the artificial independent state Kosovo where people are not even allowed by so called protecting forces to pay respect to their dead, to go to their graves and lit candles on All Souls Days if their graves are in the part now usurped by Albanians..
Would all of this have happened if USSR existed?
Many of us who lived in the former, non-alignment state SFR Yugoslavia an ordinary peaceful life may ask ourselves Would all this happen if the USSR did not vanish from the world map? Many of us believe it wouldn’t. The balance between once clearly recognizable world powers, USA and USSR was a good guarantor of peace, dignity and prosperity of small nations, regardless of their political system. Would it happen that Slavic countries turn against other Slavic nation based only on lies and false scenarios, CNN, CIA and other media, too eager to seek the shelter behind “world leader’s” back, pretending that they are doing it in the name of democracy and human rights.
Now
in the absence of this necessary power balance we have witnessed lately
also engagement of NATO in other countries bringing misery to the local
civilians in Afghanistan and Iraq, helping USA defending their
interests under pretext of fighting terrorism. Unfortunately, Canada,
as a member of NATO alliance is also fighting American wars and
supporting America’s unacceptable policy of bullying small and poor
countries like Serbia, tolerating all terrible known and unknown
dungeons in the world for war prisoners in violence of conventions and
international law rules.
I, as writer, can only express my feelings and opinion about sorrows and suffering of my and other small nations in my poems or stories in hope that my writings will contribute to the awareness of injustices and threats coming from those who play power games with people’s lives and destinies.
EULOGY
Stojanka Radenovic-Petkovic
Look! Reapers were reaped
on their field in Kosovo
while gathering their crops!
They were all killed and forgotten
on that hot day in July 1999
And after that only a dead silence
is to be heard on that sad field
There’re no crop no crickets ,
no birds flying waiting for
spilt wheat kernels in this dead field
Nobody knows killers
Nobody is guilty of anything
Many deaths happened say those
who easily forget other people’s deaths
And reapers become dead twice
Once in the field once in the memory
But now I am writing an eulogy
on this All Souls Day
All of my letters become petals
and I spill them freely over
their unvisited graves
In this solitary performance
I loudly pronounce names
of 14 reapers reaped by killers
Sounds become candles
lit on their graves in silence
Their thin flickering flames
weaving a tale about them
nobody can extinguish.
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