An open letter to the people and army of the F.R.Y.

Two days ago, the Yugoslav federal government agreed to a "peace proposal", carried by Chernomyrdin and Ahtisaari. Later the Serbian parliament sanctioned this agreement.

The Yugoslav media hailed this agreement as a victory of sorts. They stressed especially three points:
- The agreement guarantees the territorial integrity of the FRY.
- It provides for an international security force in Kosovo, which will
be under U.N., not NATO mandate.
- Unlike the "Rambouillet agreement" it rules out the possibility of
eventual independence of Kosovo..

As far as we know, however, the Yugoslav media have not disclosed the text of the agreement. The western media in contrast have. Both the Associated press and Reuter's agencies have published translations of the text into English. Reading this text, makes clear that the provisions for "sovereignty" and "territorial integrity", are abstract phrases, which can only be used as "fig leafs" for the concrete parts of the text which, in essence, provide for military occupation of Kosovo by "international forces" in which the role of NATO will be "essential".


A plan for occupation, not for peace

Now one could doubt the accuracy of the translations - after all, the western media have proved beyond doubt that they act as mouthpieces of NATO and CIA propaganda. But there are some disturbing facts that show that, in this case, the version of the text presented by Reuter's and A.P. must be accurate:

- First of all, the fact that the Serbian parliament and government have not announced the text of Ahtisaari's proposal, they only published the decision of the Serbian parliament which states that this proposal is accepted.

- Second, the fact that there was a long and heated debate in the Serbian parliament, during which deputies came close to having a fistfight, and the fact that Seselj and 73 other deputies voted down the agreement. Seselj even left the government coalition, in order to make clear that he will not share the responsibility for the agreement.

The full text of the agreed plan is presented at the end of this letter. Even a cursory reading shows that, not unlike Rambouillet, it is an occupation proposal not a peace agreement. According to the plan, the FRY military, paramilitary and police forces will have to evacuate Kosovo within 7 days. They will be replaced by occupation forces, in which NATO will play an "essential role".

The disarmament of the KLA and the "sovereignty" and "territorial integrity" of the FRY ARE NOT GUARANTEED - the plan just states that "they will be taken into account" - along with the principles of the Rambouillet Agreement! (point 8)

But even if Kosovo officially stays within the FRY, this will have no practical significance as long as it is occupied by NATO forces.

Furthermore, this plan is not just about Kosovo. Point 9 mentions a "pact of stability for southeastern Europe, wide international participation in order to advance democracy and economic prosperity, and stability and regional cooperation". This clearly indicates that the economic policy of the FRY will be subjected to western control.


Will peace come?

Some may say that any peace, even one with heavy terms, is better than the continuation of the bombardments. But this is far from the truth. First of all, this plan will NOT lead to peace. Only those who believed that the U.S. and their allied bootlickers started the attack in order to save the Albanians, can believe that they will stop at Kosovo.

The attack against the FRY was a further step toward the implementation of the "new world order", which wants the entire world be subjected to the imperialist alliance headed by the U.S. Before Kosovo we had Bosnia, Iraq, the bombing of Sudan and Afghanistan. Russia and China have openly declared that they consider the attack against Yugoslavia to be a prelude to eventual attacks against them. It is certainly not accidental that at the same time the FRY (including the Chinese embassy) was
attacked, the "Cox report" was released to the public, accusing the Chinese of spying on the U.S. and stealing nuclear secrets. It is also not accidental that the U.S., a country with one of the worse human rights track records, accuses the Chinese of human rights violations. And it is perhaps not accidental that Pakistan, the regional equivalent of Albania, has sent its version of the KLA into Kashmir these days. The U.S. plans for world domination have no room for adversaries. Fearing potential political changes in Russia which would forever throw such plans into the waste basket, the militarists of NATO push for the
acceleration of these plans, before it is too late.

In these plans, there is no place for an independent Yugoslavia, however small and weakened. Yugoslavia must be totally subjugated. The US will not stop the aggression until the likes of KLA rule in Belgrade. The full territory of the FRY will have to be transformed into a NATO base, just like Albania, FYROM and Bosnia, before they are satisfied.

Those who believed that the U.S. would be satisfied with a partial capitulation should have learned their lesson by now. After Croatia, Slovenia and FYROM, they went after Bosnia. After Bosnia, it was the turn of Krajna. Then Kosovo. If they get Kosovo, they will next go after Montenegro and Vojvodina. Then the rest of Serbia. As long as the FRY forces retreat without fighting a war to the end, they are preparing the stage for the next phase of the war and every time they are fighting from positions worse than the last.

Those who are still not persuaded, should take a look at Iraq. They will see there what awaits them in the future, if the FRY troops withdraw from Kosovo. Hussein, like Milosevic, after two months of bombing, negociated an agreement with the agressors, a "peace plan". Like Milosevic, he presented this plan to his people as a "victory". The result of this "victory" is that close to 2 million Iraqis have died as a direct result of the ongoing embargo. If things come to pass that way, the days of bombing will be remembered as idyllic, comared to what will follow them.


Why did Milosevic agree?

Some would like to believe that Milosevic agreed to the plan without meaning to implement it, that he is playing a "trick" at NATO. But we should not forget that Milosevic is the same man who accepted the secession of Croatia, Slovenia and FYROM, the same man who signed the Dayton accords, the same man who stood aside while hundreds of thousands of Serbs were being massacred and expelled from Krajna. Milosevic doesn't want the destruction of Serbia - this is clear. But it is also
clear that he doesn't have the guts to take his opposition to the end. This of course has nothing to do with his personal courage, or lack thereof. It is a result of his social position, a manifestation of the historic impotence of of the oligarchic cliques that governed the "socialist" countries. In order to oppose the allied forces of imperialism, to stage a fight that will go to the end, other social forces must come to the foreground, forces that will not be forced by their ambiguous social position to follow ambiguous policies.

It seems that for the likes of Milosevic, in the current epoch of deepening social and international conflicts, history has only left one role: the role of a modern-day Petain.


What are the imperialists' plans for Kosovo and the rest of Yugoslavia?

The west promises "development" to those who succumb. One has just to look at the neighboring countries, to see what this "development" will mean: complete destruction of the productive base of the country, the takeover of the state apparatus by mafia cliques, a forced exodus of millions of economic refugees, the mafia-isation of the entire society. People who travelled to Yugoslavia from Greece during these weeks, were amazed at the contrast between Yugoslavia and Bulgaria, through which
they passed on their way. Yugoslavia, inspite of the embargo, the burden of the refugees from Krajna and Bosnia, the ongoing attacks, had a functioning economy. The fields were being cultivated, industry is functioning, people have retained their dignity. In Bulgaria, which is being "developed" by the west for almost a decade now, the fields are barren, industry has ceased to exist, border guards impose a duty of a bottle of whisky and a box of cigarettes per person to let them pass. The bus drivers did not even dare pass through Sofia. "They will even steal our wheels before we leave the city" they say. And we should keep
in mind that Bulgaria is certainly better off than Albania (at least 1million Albanians have fled to Greece alone) or Russia where people are litterally starving to death, which is openly governed by mafia gangs and where the life expectancy has fallen by more than five years during the last decade. If one considers the example of Italy, which is a "junior partner" in the imperialist alliance, not an occupied country, he can understand how the members of the international "security force" will treat "natives".
The recent cable car accident, in which 20 italians were killed by american soldiers playing with the plane they were flying, and for which noone was punished, is a good example.

If Kosovo is allowed to pass into foreign occupation, the Serbs who live there, along with the Albanians who had defended the unity of the FRY, will have to flee to the rest of Serbia. The gangs of mercenaries and ex-convicts who call themselves KLA, as well as the NATO "peace forces", will fall upon the land like a pest. everything worth stealing will be stolen, women will be raped, people will be murdered in cold blood. Noone will be able to lead a normal life, have a honest job, cultivate his land, under these circumstances. If the rest of Serbia is eventually placed under western control, its fate will be even worse. The days of the german occupation will come back. Under such circumstances, the Serbs will inevitably have to fight for their freedom. The partisan movement will also come to life. Eventually, the occupier will have to leave, just as Hitler had to. But before leaving, like Hitler, he will have caused enormous misery, human losses and destruction.


Who gave Milosevic and the parliament the right to agree To NATO's terms?

Milosevic and the parliament claim they represent the Yugoslav people. It is true that the government was elected. They act as if this gave them the right to fragment Yugoslavia and place its pieces at an auction.

The truth is different. Milosevic and his clique were elected with the promise that they would defend the unity of the FRY. Their election did not make Yugoslavia their property. If they order the withdrawal of forces from Kosovo, they will have forfeited their mandate. They will have acted as dictators, and even worse, as traitors, as agents of the enemy.

The Yugoslavian regime, made in the image of "western democracies", shares with them this trait, that in times of crisis it becomes the opposite of democracy. Just like in Greece, where the elected government participates in the attack against Yugoslavia, against the declared will of 98% of the Greek people. The only regime that can accurately represent the changing mood of popular masses in times of great changes, is a regime where the representatives of the people can be recalled at
any time. Such a regime, based on the model of the Paris commune or the Russian soviets, is the only guarantee that the governments will not be able to sell out their peoples and deliver them, bound and gagged, to the hangman's hands.

The time has come for everyone, from the head of the army of the FRY to the last soldier, from the parliament deputies who opposed the agreement to the last citizen of Yugoslavia, to take their responsibilities and act before it is too late.



What the army must do:

The army's duty is to defend the integrity of its country. If it gives up this duty, it is committing an act of treason. As the Nurenberg trials have established, "following orders" does not automatically relieve a soldier from responsibility for his actions.
If the FRY army obeys orders to leave Kosovo, it will be responsible of high treason, just as much as those who gave the orders. Gen. Radovan Radinovic, commenting o the incident of two Greek soldiers who refused to obey orders to follow their units which would take part in NATO's forces, said: "Military attitude is a moral attitude that involves placing one's life in danger. The philosophy of the army, is to serve values above life... These two men are deeply moral and impeccable soldiers. They remind me of the German soldier who refused to execute someone and preferred to take his place on the wall of execution. These are actions that only people of high moral standing do. When I heard of their actions, I felt proud of being in the army" Now is the time for the officers and men of the Yugoslav army to prove they are worthy of the Greeks who refused to fight against them. The number of NATO planes reported shot down or irreparably damaged during the 72 days of the war is, according to some sources, close to 200. NATO personel losses must be in the hundreds. All this without a ground war, in which tens of thousands would have to die in order to defeat the Yugoslav army.