Our own German economy is currently mired in a depression, and thus, it would be unrealistic to expect our nation to take significant financial responsibility for the reconstruction process despite the fact that Germany is one of the more prominent members of NATO.

We send our heartfelt condolences to the Djindjic family.

Unfortunately now, the issue of Djindjic's political stability is moot. 

Still he was a personal friend and I extend condolences to his wife.

The last I heard, it takes 450,000 shouts of moral encouragement to buy a loaf of bread in Belgrade, but one should not misunderestimate the importance of moral encouragement...especially since we live in such immoral times.

We fully realize that the EC estimated during the first month of the 1999 bombing campaign that the damage caused was on the order of $30 billion, and we also fully understand that the enthusiasm which had been reported in the Wall Street Journal to set up a fund to rebuild Yugoslavia may have been interpreted to mean that we actually were concretely interested in this reconstruction. 

However, we think that anyone who understands the changing dynamics of the world economy post-9/11 can really see that the situation for Europe's economy and the EC now is far different.

Any reasonable perspective on the matter must take this into account.

We send our condolences to the Djindjic family.

True, the cease-fire which ended the 78-day bombing campaign stipulated that the KLA was supposed to disarm, and true, NATO did hold jurisdiction over territories in which the KLA was allowed to roam freely.

True, central figures in the KLA were allowed to reform and reorganize under other organizations such as the National Liberation Organization (NLA) and to arm themselves.

Such actions should not be interpreted as necessarily anti-democratic or extreme, regardless of what the terms of the ceasefire say or what common sense might suggest.

We're also hoping that no one remembers US legislation such as the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999 which basically said in no uncertain terms (by Jesse Helms no less) that that the US would give substantial economic assistance and humanitarian aid if Milosevic was removed from power. 

Of course, we never really thought that that would happen. 

I think you can all understand why we might have assumed that. When the results of the 2000 elections in Yugoslavia got a little hairy, we thought that Milosevic would just declare that he'd won and dispense with Kostunica...may be pay off a few important people, send the whole affair to the Supreme Court for a rubber stamp, whatever needed to be done.

Who thought that Milosevic would have been so incompetent as to actually lose that election?

Well, to be somewhat fair, we hardly thought that a half a million people would protest in Belgrade and that they would take over the parliamentary building.  That kind of thing just doesn't happen in the US where we have more sophisticated ways of dealing with elections that don't turn out the way we want them to.

But getting back to the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999, what we're really hoping is that no one remembers anything about what the US  promised to do for democratic reform or humanitarian aid. 

First we told the Serbs to remove Milosevic from power, and doggone it if they didn't actually do that. Then we told them to send Milosevic to the Hague Tribunal, and doggone it if they didn't also do that as well.

Now, I'll tell you, we've learned our lesson and we don't put any more conditions on economic aid or humanitarian assistance to Serbia.  It's just not going to happen, and they can forget about any of that aid, at least not anything which comes close to repairing the $50 billion of damage our bombs caused.

Now that Mr. Djindjic is dead, perhaps we can close the chapter on that whole matter and get on to other more important things such as promising to rebuild Iraq into a democracy after we bomb it.

If we get cracking, maybe we can even persuade Senator Helms to introduce an Iraq Democratization Act of 2003.
 

"When I was in the opposition, the European Union promised us three million marks in cash for Milosevic. Where is it?" 

"I am seriously warning the West. If my government falls that would cost the international community $10 billion." Djindjic said Belgrade had been expecting to receive a first installment of 300 hundred million euros ($255 million) by August, but had discovered that 225 million euros of that would go toward paying off old
debts....

"I am losing my credibility and cannot stabilise the country anymore."

"We didn't make any conditions for the handover. We wanted to show our goodwill to integrate into the
international community," Djindjic told Germany's Der Spiegel weekly magazine in an interview due for
publication on Sunday. "But I must admit that I am shocked about the farce of the western aid which should amount to $1.3 billion," he said. "If we do not receive a financial injection immediately, we will have demonstrations and unrest by September at the latest."

Djindjic, a leading member of the Serbian reform bloc that ousted Milosevic as Yugoslav president last year, has come under heavy criticism from senior colleagues and protesters in Belgrade for his covert handover of Milosevic last month. After Milosevic arrived in The Hague, Western officials pledged $1.28 billion to help end Yugoslavia's economic misery and rebuild a country shattered by NATO's 1999 bombing campaign.

Djindjic said Belgrade had been expecting to receive a first installment of 300 million euros ($255 million) by August, but had discovered that 225 million euros of that would go towards paying off old debts, while the remaining 75 million euros would only be transferred in November at the earliest.

"That is like giving a seriously ill person medicine when he is dead. Our crisis months are July, August,
September," Djindjic told the magazine.

Djindjic said support for Socialists and radicals would increase without immediate financial transfers, especially if Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica kept raising doubts about whether the West would come up with the cash. 

"I am seriously warning the West. If my government falls that would cost the international community $10
billion."

Djindjic warned of a possible takeover of the government by radicals, a Socialist comeback and a new Balkans crisis, which would end cooperation with The Hague tribunal and create hundreds of thousands of refugees.

"I am losing my credibility and cannot stabilise the country anymore," he said. "What we need is sincere help, not empty declarations of sympathy. When I was in the opposition, the European Union promised us three billion marks in cash for the fall of Milosevic. Where is it?"
 

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  Mr. HELMS. Mr. President, this is a significant piece of legislation, I believe, the Serbia Democratization Act of 1999, on which I am honored by the cosponsorship of a number of distinguished colleagues--Senators Gordon Smith, Lugar, Lieberman, Lautenberg, DeWine, McCain, and Orrin Hatch.

  More than a year ago, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic sent Serbian troops into Kosovo to launch a brutal assault on the ethnic Albanian population there. This action was the beginning of a merciless and unjustified Serbian offensive against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Two thousand victims of Milosevic's cruelty lie dead--many of them innocent civilians. And hundreds of thousands of people have been driven from their homes.

  Mr. President, this tragedy in Kosovo has emphasized the obvious: that if the United States continues to foolishly hope for good will on the part of Milosevic, the United States will be dragged into the crises this cruel man manufactures time and again. Instead of pursuing a strategy that leads to NATO airstrikes or the deployment of thousands of United States troops in peacekeeping operations, I believe it is the course of wisdom to examine the root cause of instability in that region--the bloody regime of Slobodan Milosevic.

  President Milosevic has imposed rigid controls on, or launched outright attacks against, the media, universities, and the judicial system in Serbia to prevent the possibility that a democracy and an independent civil society can be developed. The massacres of innocent women and children in Kosovo demonstrate Milosevic's disregard for basic human rights. This man, in a word, forbids the very thought of a democratic system in Serbia.

  For too long this Administration has claimed that no viable democratic opposition exists in Serbia or that the United States has no choice but to work with Milosevic. Mr. President, I refuse to accept this argument. There are individuals and organizations in Serbia that can be a force for democratic change in that country. Milosevic is not the only option. And in no case should the United States treat that dictator as a responsible leader or as someone with whom we can do business.

  The Serbia Democratization Act, which I am introducing today, has but one purpose--to get rid of the murderous regime of Mr. Milosevic. Let me briefly summarize the key points of the legislation:

  It authorizes $100 million over a two year period to support the development of a government in Yugoslavia based on democratic principles and the rule of law.

  It calls for increased Voice of America and Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty broadcasting to Serbia to undermine state control of the media and spread the message of democracy to the people of Serbia.

  It calls for humanitarian and other assistance to the victims of oppression in Kosovo.

  It adds new sanctions or strengthens those that exist against Serbia until the President certifies that the government is democratic. For example, it codifies the so-called ``outer wall'' of sanctions that the United States has informally in place. It blocks Yugoslav assets in the United States. It prevents senior Yugoslav and Serbian government officials, and their families, from receiving visas to travel to the U.S. And it requires a democratic government to be in place in Serbia before extending MFN status to Yugoslavia.

  It states that the U.S. should send to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia all information we have on the involvement of Milosevic in war crimes.

  Now, as for Mr. Milosevic's future, I do not care one way or the other if he lives out his days in sunny Cyprus if he will agree to step aside and make way for democracy in Serbia. The important thing is that he be removed from power, whether voluntarily or not.

  Once the Milosevic regime has been replaced by a democratic government in Yugoslavia, this legislation calls for immediate and substantial U.S. assistance to support the transition to democracy. When that day comes, I will lead the way in encouraging Yugoslavia to take its place among the democratic nations of the West. Until that time, I will work to implement a policy that will undermine the autocratic regime of Slobodan Milosevic in every way possible.
 

 

Both groups [the National Liberation Army and the Liberation Army of Presevo, Medvedja and Bujanovac] receive strong backing from the now-disbanded Kosovo Liberation Army on which they have modelled themselves, and whose Albanian-language initials (UCK) are shared by the armed Albanian group in Macedonia.   Many of the armed men previously fought with the Kosovo Liberation Army. Indeed, in mid-May Gezim Ostreni, a former senior KLA commander emerged as the NLA's chief of staff.