Now Milo is the one who is blocking the Danube...no wonder the Russians are having a field day massacring Chechen civilians...they are all terrorists!
Gus, this guy Sells looks like the perfect running mate for Bill Bradley<gggg>
dailynews.yahoo.com
NATO Chief: Milosevic, Not Wreckage, Blocks Danube
By Douglas Hamilton
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - NATO Secretary General Lord George Robertson said Tuesday that Serbia
could not expect help to clear the Danube waterway of Kosovo war debris as long as Slobodan
Milosevic remains president of Yugoslavia.
Western reconstruction aid is barred as long as Milosevic is in power. But the Danube blockage is
becoming acute as winter nears, with the threat of an ice buildup and flooding upstream.
NATO-member Hungary and other Danube shipping states want to ease the no-aid policy so the river can be cleared at Novi
Sad, in northwestern Serbia, before winter sets in.
As NATO figures privately admit Milosevic is still firmly implanted, the Serbian opposition is urging the West to drop the blunt
instrument of sanctions and help some reconstruction.
But Robertson gave no sign concessions were being mooted.
''The fundamental blockage to the process of bringing Yugoslavia and Serbia back into the family of nations that might expect help
and assistance is the continued rule of an indicted war criminal...as the president of Yugoslavia,'' he said.
He said Milosevic's violence in Kosovo had ''led to the damage we've done'' and ''he himself has resisted a lot of moves that
have been made in relation to the Danube.''
Milosevic A Long Way From Out
Robertson was talking to reporters after meeting President Vaira Vike-Freiberga of Latvia, a would-be NATO member.
''I hope that the people of Serbia...will eventually have to take their future and their country into their own hands and take it away
from Milosevic,'' the alliance secretary general said.
A top NATO official admitted Friday that Milosevic was ''a long way from out'' and still ''has his hands firmly on the levers of
power in Serbia,'' while his opposition was deeply divided.
Hungary and other pro-NATO ''frontline'' states have made significant trade sacrifices in the name of solidarity with the Western
allies, not only during the Kosovo campaign but throughout several years of sanctions against Serbia.
They now expect a problem created by NATO bombing to be dealt with separately from Milosevic's eventual departure.
Diplomatic sources said Hungary had not raised the issue in NATO's executive council, since the alliance clearly did not wish to
deal with such ''environmental'' problems.
Hungary is, however, pursuing the question with the EU and intends to raise it again Thursday at a meeting in Helsinki.
Smart Bombs, Dumb Sanctions
Three bridges were dropped into the river at Novi Sad by NATO's ''smart'' precision bombs.
Belgrade insists on help to rebuild them as part of cleanup of the waterway using EU cash and Hungarian cranes.
But that would come under the heading of ''reconstruction'' and would breach the sanctions policy. The United States opposes
any relaxation but some European allies see the hard-line stance as ineffective and possibly counter-productive for the region.
Milosevic's political opponents also want the West to lift blanket embargoes against Yugoslavia, saying they hurt ordinary Serbs
far more than they do the ruling clique in Belgrade. So-called ''smart sanctions,'' like the ban on visas for individual Milosevic
backers and bank rollers, are seen by some as more likely to undermine support for the president.
But a German initiative to make better use of this weapon by doubling the list of names to some 600 is still languishing at the
European Union weeks after it was proposed.
An EU source said it was only an ''idea on the table'' and was unlikely to be addressed again until mid-November. |
