DANIELa
Pita ne skita

Emina

It is SERBO-CROATIAN ...
and not speaking it in here is not the reason but the lies Maja and I caught you telling. Old story...

Just stop lying to every new innocent soul that appears on this board. Who cares where you are from. To make somebody feel sorry for you?
Shall I find all over again all the lies and inconsistencies that you were posting? No, boooring - as much as it is seeing you here with no constructive contribution for months now.
Give us a break, please.

New York Times
August 16, 1999
NATO Peacekeepers Plan a System of Controls for the News Media in Kosovo
By STEVEN ERLANGER

PRAGUE, Czech Republic -- The United States and its allies charged with peacekeeping in Kosovo are
establishing a system to control the news media in the province that would write a code of conduct for
journalists, monitor their compliance with it and establish enforcement mechanisms to punish those who
violate its rules.

A draft plan of operation for Kosovo's Department of Media Affairs, which already has been established, was
drawn up earlier this month by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, calling for a staff of
50 people.

It has been circulating on a restricted basis to member countries, who have been asked to nominate suitable
personnel. A copy was provided to The New York Times by someone disturbed by the contents. International
news media groups also have heard about it and already have expressed criticism.

A senior Western official involved with the plan, who spoke on the telephone from Kosovo, said it was based
on a similar program in Bosnia-Herzegovina. The proposed "Media Regulatory Commission" and "Media
Monitoring Division" are not intended to intimidate or to censor the local news media but to support and tutor
them in the ways of a Western free press, he said, until they can operate on their own.

"The idea is not to censor anyone," he said. "The idea is to bring people up to Western standards, so you
need to present Western standards to observe. And it will all be done in consultation."
On the other hand, he said, the department is charged with preventing "the abuse of the media, especially
radio and television, so it can't be used to urge people to go out in the streets and create riots."

But in Montenegro and Serbia, which together make up Yugoslavia, Clinton administration officials are
actively engaged in supporting politicians and news media outlets opposed to the continued rule of the
elected Yugoslav President, Slobodan Milosevic. In Serbia they are helping the opposition to organize large
street demonstrations intended to press Milosevic to resign.

The Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe is charged by the United Nations, which is in overall
control of Kosovo, with the "democratization" of the province, including running free and fair elections. News
media development is a crucial part of the organization's task, the officials say.

The Kosovo Media Affairs Department, situated in Pristina, the province's capital, is most urgently charged
with allocating frequencies and issuing broadcasting licenses for Kosovo. Various businessmen, publishers and
potential politicians are already drawing up plans for new television and radio ventures for the province.

The department proposes to create a Media Regulatory Commission, in part based on America's Federal
Regulatory Commission, which governs the airwaves. But the commission would also write (in vague
consultation with Kosovo journalists) and administer a "broadcasting code of practice" and "a temporary
press code" for print journalists, and then "monitor compliance and establish enforcement mechanisms," the
plan says.

As in Bosnia, the commission would have the right to censor material, to fine stations or to order certain
journalists or stations off the air.

A "media monitoring division" would follow the content of local journalism, report on compliance with the
codes of conduct and "track the treatment of journalists to insure freedom of expression and movement as
well as responsible behavior by journalists."

The plan calls for the appointment by the United Nations of an "international appellate body," to which local
news media could appeal decisions or rulings by the commission.

There would also be an "independent media council" of local journalists and civic leaders, also appointed by
the United Nations, to "advise" the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe.

The department also plans to name new management for Radio Television Pristina, the former Yugoslav state
television and radio outlet in Kosovo, and to turn it into "a public-service broadcaster," with programming in
Albanian and Serbo-Croatian. When it was run from Belgrade, the Yugoslav capital, it also used to broadcast
in Turkish.

"This arrangement," the draft plan says, "will also assist" the U.N. mission in Kosovo "in its urgent need to
communicate directly with the population on matters vital to civil administration." Eventually, the station,
along with the Media Regulatory Commission and all its powers, would be handed over "to duly constituted
Kosovar authorities."

According to the plan, the Media Department will also take responsibility for coordinating international donors
to the news media, including private or nongovernmental agencies, while making recommendations of media
outlets worth sponsoring. It would also work to develop a nonpartisan news agency for the province and to
establish a journalism school.

Media watchdog groups are critical of the plan. Marilyn Greene, the executive director of the World Press
Freedom Committee, a group largely financed by American publishers and the Newspaper Guild, said: "The
infringement of press freedom is obvious. Unfortunately, the lessons of Bosnia -- how not to operate a
reconstruction program -- were apparently not learned."

Bosnia was an extremely difficult case, said the Committee's European representative, Ronald Koven. "But
hard cases make bad laws," and journalists are bound to feel pressure "to adopt certain kinds of codes."

"There is a kind of colonialist mentality," Koven said. "Foreigners are going to impose their standards and
codes of conduct on independent media journalists in Kosovo in a situation where before the war there was
a perfectly adequate independent Albanian-language press that knew what it was all about."

He cited a forthcoming study of foreign media management in Bosnia by professor Monroe Price of Cardozo
Law School, Yeshiva University, who wrote, "The time to intervene or control propaganda is when brutality is
imminent," not to protect the political environment afterward.

"The line between information intervention and censorship becomes blurred," Price wrote. "One of the great
dangers of international action to restrict free speech is that it provides apparent democratic justification for
any nation to use its police power to close down media outlets."

Under the fascist-Nazi umbrella, the Albanians gained control of
Kosovo, efficiently cleansed it of 300,000 Serbs and kept the Yugoslav
resistance busy, thus relieving Nazi troops for duty in Normandy.
History repeats itself. Under a different patron, the Kosovars are now
cleansing the territory of non-Albanians. Why not? NATO gave the
Yugoslav army only days to get out of Kosovo, but it is "negotiating"
with the KLA about what weapons to surrender and when.
In the meantime, ancient Orthodox Churches are destroyed and innocent
farmers massacred by NATO's local allies.
Madeleine Albright and Tony Blair may still harbor illusions about a
multi-ethnic Kosovo, but that is not what Albanians have in mind.
Their goal is "an ethically pure Albanian Kosovo," and they are pretty
close to achieving it.


Since KFOR's arrival, the Serb and Gypsy populations have been reduced
by 75 percent and 90 percent respectively. The irony is that the Serbs
who are now being expelled are those who thought they had no reason to
leave their ancestral homes. They had nothing to fear, they thought,
because they had committed no crimes against their Albanian neighbors.
Above all they opted to trust NATO, only to be brushed off with the
excuse, "We cannot be everywhere, all the time."

Daniella,

What does "pita ne skita" mean? and why do you say Esmee and Zoja are NOT Bosnian? I can only assume they are who they say they are, as I have no way of knowing otherwise.

Anyway, who someone claims to be isn't really important. It's the content of their posts over time and the general impression of what and how they think about and perceive the world around them that matters. That's why I stopped the stupid "pissing match" with Phil - there's no point in trying to outdo one another by firing labels back and forth. I prefer to let my posts and my comments about them speak for themselves.

Who knows? Maybe I'M BOSNIAN!!!!!!

tommygunns

Hey friends,

Just thought I'd toss a little monkey wrench into the works with that last post. Feeling a bit mischievious this evening!! he, he.

Now, let's get on with the serious stuff, ok?

tommygunns

TOMMYGUNNS
Sorry i see my post appeared 3 times on the board.Was not what i wanted. Anyhow .Yes better get on with the serious business and a joke once in a while is appreciated.

For all i care if people whant to go on with a pissing match let them.Its there valiable time there wasting not mine. I learned by now not to go along with the pissing match.(very inventive word choice btw 🙂

DANIELA
For your information i put the URl you gave about the weapon story in my bookmarks, cause i do agree and think its a good URL.
Ps About the language spelling mistake in english did not know how to write it. So here by thanks for next time i do know

Emina

" Under a different patron, the Kosovars are now cleansing the territory of non-Albanians. Why not? NATO gave the Yugoslav army only days to get out of Kosovo, but it is "negotiating" with the KLA about what weapons to surrender and when. "

Daniela, why do you think NATO insisted that the Serbian "military machine" get out of Kosovo?

Was it because the machine's leaders not only failed to control their men, but also failed to control themselves? Were they too eager to get as many ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo as they could that they looked the other way when their subordinates acted overzealously? phil

Phil, tell me at least one accurate information about Kosovo. Just one for a start. Nothing more, nothing less.

Daniela,

Good question! I've been trying to get specific answers to specific questions for some time on this board, but all I get are the same old cliched responses and accussations we all heard from NATO's smug mouth-piece, Shea - a large percentage of which have subsequently been proven lies.

tommygunns

PS - Where's Maja? Continuing to go there the archives, I've been impressed with her on-target posts. She has a keen ability to cut through the bullshit!

Daniela, I don't consider your question a serious one. None of us can "guarantee" the 'acuracy' of the reports coming out of Kosovo, from either side. We can only rely on the integrety and reputations of the reporters and the institutions they work for. Of coursre we're going to interpret facts to be consistent with our own predispositions and biases.

Now, would you like to try to answer my question above? phil

For those of you who would like to know more about the KLA go to:

http://mprofaca.cronet.com/mainmenu1.html

This site should keep you busy for some time.
phil

<<Daniela, why do you think NATO insisted that the Serbian "military machine" get out of Kosovo? <<

is this the question in question ?

That is the question, Daniela. phil

More about the KLA:

http://www.siri-us.com/backgrounders/Archives_Kosovo/KLA-as-Army.html

Stuff's not hard to find at all. phil