Yugoslav academic community website Q&A These below are very interesting excerpts:
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What did the ethnic Albanians do to Serbs during their fight to have their own country? (Sharon Griffin)
The Albanian Kosovars fought Serb control by "electing" their own leaders, refusing to cooperate with the Serb authorities and to educate their
children in public schools that are completely sponsored by state. In 1996 an obscure organization appeared on the scene, the Kosovo Liberation
Army (KLA, or UCK in Albanian) committed to armed struggle. They undertook attacks on police stations and Serb civilians, including Serb
refugees from the Yugoslav wars whom KLA viewed as colonizers intended to shift the demographic balance. Human rights groups have
accused them of serious human rights violations, including compelling Serb villagers to leave their homes. Although KLA claims not to target
civilians, from January 1st 1998 to August 30 1998 there were 1126 KLA attacks, among them police targets in 616 cases and civilian targets in
510 cases. In those fights 30 Serb and Montenegrin civilians were killed, 47 Albanians unloyal to KLA, 3 Gypsies, 1 unidentified person and 95
civilians wounded. During this period 208 civilians were kidnapped (157 Serbs and Montenegrins, 42 Albanians unloyal to KLA, 6 Gypsies, 1
Macedonian). Out of these 29 were women and 9 were children, 39 were released, 7 escaped, 16 were murdered and the fate of 146 civilians
still remains unknown, as well as the fate of 10 kidnapped policemen. In these numbers are not included 22 kidnapped Serbian civilians found
murdered and buried in a mass grave near the village of Klecka. Besides civilian casualties, there were many representatives of police and army
forces that were killed in KLA attacks.
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Do people in Yugoslavia have more than one source of information?
Besides regular TV and radio programs of state-owned stations, Yugoslav audience has the opportunity to use the services of numerous private
broadcasters that are active all around Yugoslavia. In addition, this country has a considerable number of Internet users, especially in urban
areas. In the last several years satellite channels have become one of the main information sources. In almost every village in Yugoslavia one
can find at least a few houses equipped with satellite dishes. That is the reason that CNN, BBC, SKY and other important world broadcasters are
accessible to a large number of Yugoslavs. English speaking population is rapidly growing in Yugoslavia, even if we exclude young and
educated people which are almost all fluent in that language.
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Why don't Yugoslavs understand truth that stares in their face? (Rodney McBride)
Human beings can be easily subjected to propaganda. Intellectuals, being human as well, can also be fooled by propaganda techniques. The
difference is in intellectuals being more than capable of reconsidering their opinion when presented the necessary facts. The truth that should be
staring in Yugoslav people's face is presented in western media as endless flows of refugees, crying and freezing to death. This way of reporting
about refugee crisis is quite unacceptable from a free press point of view, but it is, however, quite convenient from NATO governments' point of
view.
Pictures: there are few pictures showing huge mass of refugees. Typically, on most of the pictures you can find between 2 and 15 kids, women or
men. There are pictures with huge mass of people, but they are usually unclear. Examples of such photo can be found on
aim.ac.yu under "Different views of refugees" link. On the contrary, text illustrated by these pictures, talks about hundreds of
thousands of refugees. Also, there is a lot of horrifying stories from refugees. But, all of them know that chance for good treatment is much higher if
they had some terrifying experiences.
World media desperately need stories full of blood and raping, so do NATO. Yugoslav TV is state-owned and it is highly unlikely that it could be
completely impartial, but the impartiality of US, British and the rest of western media is equally questionable because they are doing the same job
for their governments.
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I haven't heard any country denying that the Serb army committed huge crimes in Kosovo? (Armelle Godener )
Governments supporting NATO campaign consider humanitarian catastrophe as the main reason for action, although it happened only after the
bombing started. On the other hand, states that are opposing NATO, although their opinion is rarely mentioned in world media, consider
humanitarian crisis in Kosovo only as a consequence of NATO bombing campaign. During last several years huge crimes have happened in
Kosovo. In the period from January 1st 1998 to August 30 1998 as a result of intensified KLA terrorist activities 74 policemen were killed and 282
were wounded. Unfortunately, a considerable number of Albanian civilians were casualties during these clashes. Terrorists used Albanian
households and villages as fortress-like barricades for their actions (all Albanian houses in Kosovo are encircled with high stone or concrete
walls, which can be seen in Pristina and especially in villages). When NATO bombardment started it was much more difficult for Yugoslav army
forces to prevent collateral damage under constant NATO air raids.
There is a number of pictures showing refugees leaving Kosovo to Macedonia and Albania. Unfortunately, the main source of information
concerning their number is NATO, which is not impartial and tries to justify its actions through these numbers. If we compare these pictures with
pictures of 250.000 Serbian refugees leaving Krajina (Croatia) in 1995, it is obvious that NATO figures are highly exaggerated. It is interesting to
mention that even when the flow of refugees to Macedonia and Albania stopped, Yugoslav army forces were still to blame for the lack of refugees
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Do England, France and Germany have any interest in destroying Yugoslav property or gaining Yugoslav territory? (Peter
Kanzow))
For some time now the old colonial powers (Great Britain, France, Spain, etc) do not directly govern their colonies in Africa and Asia, but they still
have an immense influence on newly founded independent countries. In the similar way Yugoslavia represents the only crack in the chain of
NATO members between the ex USSR countries and the Atlantic Ocean. In addition, main European communication lines run through Yugoslavia
for purely geographic reasons.
Peacekeeping forces that are placed in Bosnia have the mandate and the flag of United Nations, although they mainly consist of soldiers from
NATO countries. Besides such experience, NATO insisted on occupying Kosovo in order to keep peace. It seems rather obvious that Yugoslav
territory is extremely significant for accomplishing the NATO strategic unity.
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Are Albanian refugees fleeing Kosovo lying when they talk about Serb atrocities? (Teri Campbell)
Albanians that are leaving Kosovo undoubtedly flee from the danger. They cross the border where they feel safe, and on the other side there are
people who are the enemies of the Serbs. Every one of them can be let in or turned back, depending on the decision of customs official on the
spot. They know that their chances to be let in are considerably bigger if they describe the sufferings they have been through. In addition to that,
the most of them communicate with foreign journalists with the help of interpreters hired by NATO, local Albanians or journalists themselves. The
use of English language among Albanian population is very rare, all the more so the most of them don't speak the language of the state they live in
– Serbian. The Albanians that speak English in front of TV cameras show extremely inappropriate knowledge of that language for an average
inhabitant of Kosovo, but quite appropriate for an average TV viewer.
It is highly likely that there was collateral damage during the bombing campaign, because the army and police forces couldn't completely handle
civilian casualties under the constant danger from NATO attacks. In addition, in destroyed and deserted cities like Priština, it is very hard for the
police to prevent the people, who feel that they were attacked with no reason, to vent their pain on innocent neighbors.
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