Gorbachev - NATO Has Broken All Its Teeth On Yugoslavia 5-24-99 SYDNEY (Agence France Presse) - Former Soviet president Mikhail Gorbachev called Monday for a negotiated end to the war in Kosovo arguing that NATO has already broken all its teeth trying to cripple Yugoslavia.

In the only face-to-face interview he has given during a brief visit to Australia to deliver "motivational" lectures, he told ABC radio here he was very pleased Yugoslavia was beating the combined might of NATO.

He also questioned what NATO might be able to achieve against nuclear powers or larger countries when it has proved itself incapable of defeating Yugoslavia.

"Two thirds of the world's fire power -- NATO's firepower -- cannot cope with Yugoslavia," said the Nobel Peace Prize winner.

"So what would they do with China, with India, with Russia or Indonesia or whatever other countries?"

He said NATO could destroy Yugoslavia by bombing. "But morally, politically, they have been defeated," he said. "The problem is that they can't stop."

Gorbachev, who as Soviet leader from 1985-90 played the key role in brokering the pact that ended the Cold War, also accused the United States of abandoning the post-Cold War agreement for a new world order.

He said efforts had been made to improve the efficiency of the United Nations so that it could address the challenges of a post Cold War era.

But these were thrown out and some people were impeding UN reforms, he said. "Now it is clear who these people are.

"Look at what's happening with the European security process. Yugoslavia is just proving the point that I've been making for some time.

"That is that Americans have changed a strategy that we initially agreed with America and with other western countries and Nato countries.

"The Americans have abandoned that strategy that we created for a post Cold War period. They are instead implementing a strategy of the only superpower. They just want to confirm themselves as the only superpower."

-- Andy (2000EOD@prodigy.net), May 25, 1999

Answers

Andy,

I like this one also. Seems so relevent after Gertz's fine job of reporting in the last few months. Most relevent line for me "he was caught with conclusive evidence".

US Gets Russian Spy, Lets Him Leave Quietly

WASHINGTON, May 24, 1999 -- (Agence France Presse) The United States caught a Russian spy last month working undercover at the United Nations but let him leave quietly to minimize harm to US-Russian relations, The Washington Times daily reported Friday.

The US State Department "covered up" what was technically the expulsion of a Russian spy, the paper said, quoting unnamed senior US officials from at least two government agencies.

The deal was worked out quietly between the United States and Russia in order to avoid further strain to relations already harmed by the NATO bombing in Yugoslavia and because Washington did not want to highlight "pervasive" spying at the United Nations.

The officer for the Russian foreign intelligence service, SVR, was arrested last month by FBI agents in a counterintelligence operation after he obtained a classified US government document from an informant, The Washington Times said.

"He was caught with conclusive evidence," the report quoted a law enforcement official as saying.

The United Nations was not informed and the usual procedure for forcing the departure of a spy posing as a diplomat, immune from prosecution -- declaring them "persona non grata" and expelling them - - was not followed.

The report said the US officials were upset by "aggressive" Russian spying in the United States. It was the second time in six months that the FBI caught an SVR officer spying in the United States. ((c) 1999 Agence France Presse)

-- R. Wright (blaklodg@hotmail.com), May 25, 1999.

Don't worry. It is OK.

BJ Clinton feels our pain...

The Dow is over 10,000...

-- Anonymous99 (Anonymous99@Anonymous99.xxx), May 25, 1999.

has anyone considered that there is a silver lining in this mess for yugoslavia? the irony is that they will probably be well prepared, both physically and emotionally, for y2k, because they have to deal with disruptions now, and they have no idea how long the disruptions might last. at least it is relatively warm now, so it's easier to deal with lack of electricity and heat now.

next january, it wouldn't surprise me to hear that the yugoslavians dealt with the century rollover in better shape than we did.

-- jocelyne slough (jonslough@tln.net), May 25, 1999.

Jocelyne -

NATO bombs have caused an ecological disaster in "the former Yugoslavia", with massive amounts of carcinogens being released into the air and water (the beautiful Danube) by the destruction of fertilizer manufacturing plants and oil refineries. There will be huge outbreaks of cancer and similar diseases for years to come.

Any Y2K impacts will act only to further weaken an already seriously damaged ecosystem and economy. Yugoslavia will not be able to prepare or rebuild until NATO stops destroying the infrastructure. If there is a "silver lining", it is only that the Yugoslavians have already lost so much that they can lose little more; they are very unlikely to be well prepared for Y2K.

-- Mac (sneak@lurk.hid), May 25, 1999.