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SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Reasserting Serb Rule
In this section of the special, we trace the war in Yugoslavia
from the post-Tito ethnic clashes throughout that nation, to the
splintering of the Balkan states, to the most recent events. The
perspective that this summary presents is important to
understanding how the pieces of the Balkan puzzle, and the current
situation in Kosovo in particular, fit into place. Archival
material featuring CBC foreign correspondents provides first-hand
reports from the area.
Introduction Hardware and Software Diary of a Balkan War Kosovo
In Black and White Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger
viewers.
Comprehensive News in Review Study Modules
Using both the print and non-print material from various issues
of News in Review, teachers and students can create comprehensive,
thematic modules that are excellent for research purposes,
independent assignments, and small group study. We recommend the
stories indicated below for the universal issues they represent and
for the archival and historic material they contain.
"Civilians in War," March 1991 "Covering Wars," A 1991 hour-long
special
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SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Reasserting Serb Rule Introduction
In an article titled "Milosevic's Vision of Glory Unleashes
Decade of Ruin" in the online New York Times, Roger Cohen paints a
portrait of post-war Pec, "a once beautiful town [in Kosovo],
threaded by bright streams, backed by mountains." This Pec is gone.
In its place are "abandoned gardens with trees full of unpicked
cherries, capsized trellises with vines still clinging to them,
dead animals, and the blackened windows that are the baleful eyes
of so much Balkan ruin." In the midst of the ruin stands a
particular cherry tree planted by the Zajmi family, shading an area
behind what was their kitchen. The war destroyed everything this
family had, except the cherry tree. The tree continues to grow and
will probably bear fruit again. In 1914, the Serbs were ready to go
to war to uphold the principle that no police from the former
Austro-Hungarian empire had the right to enter their territory to
investigate the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand. When
Slobodan Milosevic went to Kosovo 10 years ago to Kosovo's Field of
Blackbirds, where in 1389 the Serbs suffered a defeat at the hands
of the Turks, he vowed to do battle for the Serb "state, national
and spiritual integrity." In 1999, he conducted a campaign of
ethnic cleansing in Kosovo, defied the UN, NATO, and the outside
world, and resisted NATO's bombing campaign, using a variety of
ploys. Thus history fueled the war in Kosovo. It was a predictable
war, as a 1992 article in The New York Times foretold: "When
diplomats and politicians in the Balkans try to imagine where the
next regional conflict might break out, their attention quickly
turns to the restive Yugoslav region of Kosovo, where ethnic
conflicts run deep and prospects for peaceful compromise seem
bleak."
Although in many ways it was like a lot of other wars, the war
in Kosovo began with no formal declaration of war and ended with no
clear victory. To date, there has been no peace treaty signed, no
victorious homecomings. There has been a formal ceasefire,
laborious repatriation, and vengeful reprisals. At the time of
this
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writing, the division of political power in Kosovo has not been
clearly settled. In the NATO air campaign of this war, more than 36
000 bombing sorties were flown over a period of only 78 days. From
the Supreme Allied Headquarters in Mons, Belgium, orders were sent
to the Combined Air Operations Center in Vincenza, Italy.
Authorized by the North Atlantic Council, the supreme political
body of NATO, the bombing escalated; 400 bomber planes increased in
number to 1000 and were supplied by 13 nations, including Canada.
Military planners and commanders logged on daily to SIPERNET, the
U.S. military's secure digitized computer network, conducted video
teleconferencing meetings, consulted military lawyerswho assessed
potential targets, in terms of the Geneva Conventions and their
status as "justifiable military objectives"and ordered escalating
nighttime strikes. Using state-of-the-art airpower and night-vision
goggles, NATO pilots became masters of the night. In a key strike
of the war, transformer yards in Yugoslavia were hit, plunging much
of the country into darkness, interrupting the essential services
of the country's infrastructure, from streetlights to incubators.
It was a morally problematic war, a war that created strange
bedfellows: NATO and Russia. It was a war of terrible but
relatively limited "collateral damage": the accidental bombing of
the Chinese embassy, a civilian train on bridge, a convoy of
fleeing refugees.
Flying for the most part above 15 000 feet, the Allied pilots
did not destroy Milosevic's army in the field. They helped end the
war but, unfortunately, they did not end the killing and the
suffering.
Introduction Hardware and Software Diary of a Balkan War Kosovo
In Black and White Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger
viewers.
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SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Reasserting Serb Rule Hardware and
Software
War can be like a juggernaut ("a huge or overwhelming force or
object or an institution or notion to which persons blindly
sacrifice themselves or others." The 1998 Canadian Oxford
Dictionary). Modern wars especially involve enormous
infrastructures and military equipment that, once activated and
launched, can seem to take on a life of their own. War is a clash
of forces that tends to gather momentum. The purpose of war is to
push forward with great resolve, to optimize the use of military
power, to win. But wars, ironically and in apparent contradiction,
involve both sides doing the same thing. The opposing forces must
either diminish the ability of the other to advance or risk a
stalemate and constant state of aggression, oras was the case in
the First World Warrisk a war of attrition in which each side is
slowly and gradually depleted until there is no more material,
human or mechanical, with which to make war. The war in Yugoslavia
saw the use of the most powerful state-of-the-art technology of any
recent modern war. The NATO combat operations were primarily an air
assault using aircraft and sea-launched missiles, although some
ground forces were used in Macedonia and Albania. NATO used F-16
and Harrier GR-7 fighter-bombers, B-52 bombers, and, for the first
time, B-2 and F-117A Nighthawk Stealth aircraft. A NATO "armada"
consisted of four cruisers and two submarines that launched cruise
missiles such as the Tomahawk. The British nuclear-powered
submarine HMS Splendid launched missiles that can travel at 885
kilometres per hour and hit targets hundreds of kilometres away.
NATO had many bombs and missiles at its disposal: the Paveway
laser-guided bomb, the Tomahawk cruise missile, the 130A
air-to-ground missile, and the JDam GPS bomb, which is satellite-
rather than laser-guided. Air-to-air missiles included the AIM-120
and the Sidewinder. The secret soft bomb BLU-114/B, which the
Pentagon refuses to discuss, was used to short-circuit electrical
plants.
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The Yugoslav forces used MiG-29 and MiG-21 jets and a
considerable number of air-defence missiles as well as
surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). Once all this military hardware was
activatedessentially deployed from a distance and relatively
removed from the targetsthe juggernaut advanced. But, as everyone
who works with a computer knows, the hardware is useless without
the human component, the "software." Computer softwareeven
destructive virusesis programmed human intelligence, knowledge, and
instructions. Likewise, the hardware of war is activated by human
forces.
Identifying the Software Work with a partner. As you watch this
section of this special News in Review program, make two lists: (a)
the human elements on the side of NATO; and (b) the human elements
on the side of Slobodan Milosevic that precipitated, maintained,
and advanced the war machine. You may wish to identify specific
decisions, actions, reactions, attitudes, beliefs, statements,
judgments, predictions, policies, principles, emotions, or human
characteristics. When you have completed and reviewed your two
lists, present your findings to the class.
Introduction Hardware and Software Diary of a Balkan War Kosovo
In Black and White Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger
viewers.
mailto:[email protected]://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/http://www.cbc.ca/television/
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SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Reasserting Serb Rule Diary of a Balkan
Writers of all kinds, scientists, social and political
commentators, and ordinary citizens frequently keep journals in
which, by recording their observations about daily events in a
particular field, they collect data that they may use later in some
other form. The act of observing and recording also serves to help
them develop a perspective on events. While reading the following
summaries, written as journal entries by a member of the News in
Review resource guide team, consider to what extent they help you
understand a very complex news event.
February 28, 1998 There is trouble in the Balkans, again. In
Kosovo, a small province of Yugoslavia, two Serb policemen have
been killed by militant ethnic Albanianswho make up the majority of
the population of this region. The Yugoslav presidentand a
SerbSlobodan Milosevic has ordered a crackdown by his police
forces. The unrest in Kosovo would appear to be the result of a
series of pro-independence demonstrations that media sources say go
back to 1968. Even though under the Yugoslav constitution Kosovo
has been an autonomous province, Milosevic has stripped it of its
power and has sent in troops to maintain control. Nonetheless, the
separatists in Kosovothe majority of whom are Muslim and whose
families originally came from the neighbouring country of
Albaniahave declared Kosovo a republic. This would appear to be a
struggle for sovereignty that sounds all too familiar; a minority
ethnic group asserting itself against a majority (Serb) population.
The emergence of a committed rebel group (calling itself the Kosovo
Liberation Army) and the obvious imbalance of power within greater
Yugoslavia looks very ominous. This could become an escalating
confrontation, or worse, a civil war.
March 15, 1998 The violence in Kosovo has escalated. Dozens in
that province have been killed by Serb police who have attacked
suspected Albanian
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separatists. A headline in The New York Times has declared
"Another Victory for Death in Serbia." Western countries are
threatening sanctions against Serbia. Milosevic remains defiant,
claiming that Kosovo has always been part of Serbia, central to its
medieval kingdoms. The ethnic Albanians claim that being the
descendants of the ancient Illyrians, they are the original
inhabitants. Will this situation escalate even more and involve
other European states?
April 15, 1998 International mediation in the situation in
YugoslaviaKosovo reallyhas been proposed, but media reports say
that 95 per cent of Serbs reject it. Some international sanctions
have been imposed against Yugoslavia (the majority Serbian
population). And now the U.S. is considering putting its own
economic pressures on Belgrade (the capital). Meanwhile, there are
reports that the number of rebels among the population of ethnic
Albanians in Kosovo has increased substantially. The resistance has
obviously grown stronger as has the potential for more
violence.
May 31, 1998 Ibrahim Rugova, who was elected president of a
separatist Kosovo republic (even though Serbia denies that such a
state exists or could exist) and who has advocated a peaceful path
to independence, has met with Slobodan Milosevic, but the ethnic
Albanian rebels boycotted the meeting. This would suggest a growing
opposition to Serb control in Kosovo and a lessening of chances for
peaceful dialogue. There is no doubt that the situation has
escalated.
June 30, 1998 The situation in Yugoslavia-Kosovo has
deteriorated considerably. Media reports suggest that Milosevic has
moved decisively to wipe out the rebels in Kosovo. A series of
heavy attacks by Serbian police forces against rebel positions has
taken place, and ethnic Albanians in Kosovo have begun to flee by
the thousands from the conflict zones. Not only is there a growing
civil war now, but a refugee situation has also developed. Given
the relatively small geographic area, a refugee crisis would
complicate matters considerably and would certainly have an impact
on the surrounding nations, especially Albania. To make matters
worse (or better?) Western nations have demanded an end to Serb
attacks in Kosovo. Milosevic doesn't seem to be the type of leader
who will give in to international demands. Such demands could
harden his resolve.
August 31, 1998 The last two months have seen a situation in
Yugoslavia that has gone from very bad to even worse. The Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA
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is now as well known as IRA and PLO) seized control of 40 per
cent of Kosovo, according to one report, but the rebels were
dispersed in a major Serb offensive. The rebels, along with many
ethnic Albanian civilian refugees, have fled into the hills and
mountains of Kosovo. There are many reports of civilians who have
been abducted and killed by Serb forces. Thousands more have become
refugees. Media reports of massacres in Kosovar villages and a
"Serb terror" add to the general fear that this war is not only far
from over but of such potential proportions that the international
community may inevitably be drawn into the conflict in some
way.
September 30, 1998 The United Nations Security Council has
adopted a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire in Kosovo
and the start of political dialogue. It's doubtful that this will
dissuade Milosevic. He has already defied NATO, which has
threatened intervention in the situation. With no military forces
with which it can back up its call for a ceasefire, the UN once
again seems ineffectual. NATO however is a military alliance that
could put very real pressure on Milosevic despite the fact that it
was conceived as a defensive alliance. Why, therefore, would NATO
countries have any involvement in Yugoslavia? Even though this is a
very serious European situation, is it really within the mandate of
NATO?
BBC journalists have reported first-hand evidence of a massacre
of ethnic Albanians, including women and children, in Kosovo.
October 15, 1998 NATO has moved decisively and with frightening
determination. Member countries have authorized air strikes against
Serbia if it does not cease its aggression in Kosovo. This was no
idle threat, as Slobodan Milosevic also recognized, fortunately. He
has agreed to withdraw troops from Kosovo and to facilitate the
return of the tens of thousands of ethnic-Albanian refugees who
have fled Kosovo. He has also agreed to 2000 unarmed international
monitors who will verify his compliance with NATO's demands. What
does this ultimatum by NATO suggest about the role of the UN in
this war? How far will NATO go? Is Milosevic to be trusted? Will he
comply?
Christmas, 1998 It was a fragile truce. The events of the last
few months in Yugoslavia have been chaotic, and increasingly a
sense of despair permeates media reports. The KLA has not stopped
its efforts to assert its military power in Kosovo; they have
continued to conduct guerrilla warfare. Six young Serbs were killed
in a café. The Serb protests and reprisals have been bloody.
Thirty-six KLA rebels have been killed. One report says that Serb
forces in Kosovo are now using arrest and
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torture practices primarily. The withdrawal of Milosevic's
forces is obviously not occurring. U.S. envoy Christopher Hill has
been unsuccessful in brokering a political settlement. The tension
is increasingly felt on an international scale. There is an
increasing sense of déjà vu. One finds oneself thinking, "Only in
the Balkans . . ."
The New Year, 1999 On January 15th of this new year, 45 ethnic
Albanians were killed by Serb forces outside a town called Racak.
On the 29th, 24 more were killed on a raid on a suspected KLA
hideout. These events have increased international calls for a
peace settlement. NATO has said that it is ready to act. It has
authorized its Secretary General, Javier Solana, to order military
action if a peace settlement is not reached.
February 6, 1999 Following pressure from the Western NATO
allies, the two warring sides in the conflict in Kosovo have come
together for a peace conference in Rambouillet, France. Southwest
of Paris, Rambouillet is a beautiful chateau surrounded by a superb
forest. Built in the 14th century for Francis I, it has been the
home to French kings and queensMarie-Antoinette was oneas well as
Napoleon Bonaparte, who spent a last night there on his way to
exile on the island of Saint Helena. Charles X took refuge in the
chateau before his abdication. Much later it was to become a
presidential residence, from which Charles de Gaulle gave the order
to march on Paris following its liberation by the Allies in the
Second World War. How strange that this peaceful town with its
historic chateau has become the venue for a critical moment in a
Balkan conflict. Television images of the site contrast sharply
with the conflict that seems both near and far. It's even stranger
that the two opposing Yugoslav parties should meet here. It is
hoped that their removal from the area of conflict can change the
violent dynamic that exists between them. The delegations do not
meet face to face, however. They are staying on different floors
while mediators conduct "shuttle diplomacy" between floors. If
there weren't a war, this would be comic.
February 12, 1999 By all accounts, the Serbian delegation at the
conference is composed of low-ranking officials. Analysts suggest
this is Milosevic's method of lowering the status of these talks.
This would have the effect of downplaying any results achieved at
the conference. Is this a stalling tactic on the part of Milosevic
to give him time to solidify his position in Yugoslavia?
February 19, 1999 Despite the relative and uncertain calm at
Rambouillet, violence, kidnappings, and bombings by both sides
continue in Kosovo. Media
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reports, however, are focusing on the talks. Expectations are
high but uncertain. What is certain is that if the talks are not
successful the conflict will be renewed and expanded. One gets the
sense that a greater escalationas opposed to a long war of
attritionis the anticipated alternative to failed talks. One
disturbing sign is the quiet departure from Kosovo of "verifiers"
from the OSCE (Organisation for Security and Co-operation in
Europe). The OSCE has confirmed that full preparations have been
made for an abrupt evacuation of its personnel.
February 23, 1999 The talks have ended, but media reports call
the conference "inconclusive." It would appear that there is an
agreement to agree . . . later! The parties have agreed to meet
again on March 15th to discuss the implementation of the deal.
According to a statement issued at the end of the conference, "The
parties must abstain from any action which would undermine the
achievements of Rambouillet. In particular, we expect the parties
to honor fully and immediately the ceasefire which should be in
place throughout Kosovo, to abstain from all provocative actions .
. . and to comply with the relevant [UN] Security Council
Resolutions." Why do these words seem so powerless? In summarizing
the talks, one media report refers to a loss of international
credibility and describes the talks as an "abyss." U.S. spokesman
James Rubin is quoted as saying "Peace is not an event, it's a
process." His statement especially suggests that the talks are not
conclusive. What has been achieved in this "provisional
understanding"? It appears that Belgrade has accepted some sort of
Albanian self-government and some sort of international military
presence in Kosovo; it's only a peace deal in principle. A final
agreement is to be signed in the coming weeks. One analyst has
wondered when the Kosovo Liberation Army will become in effect the
Kosovo Liberation Party. The Serbian delegation has received a
hero's welcome on its return to Belgrade, but NATO's threat has not
been removed.
It's important to note that at the talks in Rambouillet, the KLA
representatives have not won the three things they had sought: a
referendum on independence, the deployment of NATO troops, or a
real peace. One of their delegates, however, has promised to
achieve these in the follow-up talks. Meanwhile, Russia has warned
NATO not to use force against Yugoslavia in the event of a total
breakdown of the peace initiative. Fuel to the fire?
The Yugoslav army has 4500 troops, more than 60 tanks, and
additional military hardware on the Kosovo border. Refugees
continue to flee, many now to Macedonia.
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March 18, 1999 The Kosovar Albanians at Rambouillet have signed
a peace deal that calls for a broad interim autonomy for Kosovo and
for its implementation by 28 000 NATO troops. Serb delegates,
however, have refused to sign, and the talks have been suspended. A
one-sided agreement seems futile and a contradiction of terms.
March 20, 1999 The international peace monitors in Kosovo have
been evacuated. Yugoslav forces have launched offensives against
the KLA. NATO is ready.
March 23, 1999 U.S. special envoy Richard Holbrooke has returned
from Belgrade where he warned Milosevic of imminent air strikes
unless the Serbs sign the peace agreement. Adamant about not
allowing NATO troops into Yugoslavia, as stipulated in the
agreement, Milosevic has said no. Holbrooke therefore has declared
that the Rambouillet talks have failed. NATO has announced the
authorization of air strikes. Milosevic has declared a state of
emergency in Yugoslavia. In all likelihood, tomorrow the war in
Yugoslavia will become an international conflict.
March 24, 1999: Belgrade has been bombed Today, NATO forces were
ordered by Secretary General Solana to bomb Belgrade, Yugoslavia.
This is the first time in its history that NATO has attacked a
sovereign nation. British Prime Minister Tony Blair has said "We
have a duty to see justice is done." U.S. President Bill Clinton
has told the world that NATO had to act to prevent a wider war.
March 30, 1999: The end of the first week of bombing NATO has
been bombing Yugoslavia for a week now and has rejected as
"unacceptable" a ceasefire proposal from Milosevic. In the second
night of bombing, 100 warplanes dropped their bombs on Belgrade. In
the subsequent nights, the bombing became a sustained attack.
Military commanders were authorized to target tanks and other
facilities. The first major loss on NATO's side, the downing of a
Stealth fighter, does not seem to have weakened the alliance's
resolve. At this point in the war, 500 000 Kosovars have fled their
homes, many telling horrifying stories of atrocities. One report
describes the pilots as "tense, anxious, and busy." One can imagine
what those in Belgrade are feeling.
April 6, 1999: The second week Suggestions that NATO's bombs
would quickly end the Serbian opposition to the peace agreement are
being questioned at the end of this second week of the campaign.
Government buildings in central
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Belgrade and key bridges over the Danube (a critical
transportation route) have been destroyed. The Serbs have declared
a unilateral ceasefire. NATO, whom the Serb media are calling
Nazis, have dismissed the offer. The refugee situation is now a
serious crisis. The UN is warning that refugees inside Kosovo could
face starvation and has reported that a third of the province's
population has fled. For Americans, the war came home when three
U.S. soldiers were captured near the Macedonian border and shown on
Belgrade television. International refugee relief efforts have been
stepped up. Macedonia says it will allow a refugee camp to be set
up for the 100 000 people trapped at its border who are trying to
get out of Kosovo.
April 13, 1999: The third week The world media are focusing as
much on the refugee crisis as on the bombing. Macedonia has removed
30 000 refugees from its border area and there is concern and doubt
about their fate. Eight thousand NATO troops are being sent to
Macedonia to help deal with the refugee situation. Media reports
indicate that it is now a question of the expulsion of ethnic
Albanian refugees from Kosovo; there are fears of a new wave of
ethnic cleansing. Is NATO playing into the hands of Milosevic?
Albania has committed its airspace, ports, and military
installations to the NATO campaign. Boris Yeltsin, in one of the
more frightening moments to date, has suggested that Kosovo "could
spark a world war" if Russia is forced to intervene.
It's Orthodox Easter in Serbia. The bombing continues.
May 4, 1999: The sixth week Serbian Deputy Prime Minister Vuk
Drasovik has been fired because of his opposition to his
government's position on the Kosovo conflict. Is this a good sign
that there is a split in the Yugoslav leadership? Is there more
good news in the fact that Russia has led the way in stepping up
diplomatic efforts to end the war? Jesse Jackson has gone to Serbia
and has negotiated the release of the three American prisoners. Is
releasing them a ploy on the part of Milosevic? Is his resolve
weakening?
So-called soft bombs are now being used to take out Yugoslav
electricity supplies. Belgrade and much of the country are
experiencing blackouts. Will the civilian population force
Milosevic to back down?
In the last few weeks: NATO accidentally bombed a convoy of
Kosovar refugees; cases of malnutrition have been reported among
children crossing into northern Albania; other Yugoslav cities
have
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also been hit hard; targets in Belgrade directly related to
Milosevic (his official residence and party headquarters) have been
hit; Serbian state television was temporarily knocked out after a
missile hit.
NATO has ended its 50th anniversary summit with the threat of an
oil embargo. Russia is strongly opposed. The allied bombing
campaign is now in its second month.
May 25, 1999: The ninth week This is the 63rd day of NATO's
bombing campaign. The war has become standard nighttime viewing, on
North American television and elsewhere around the world,
especially, in the most real sense, in Yugoslavia. For television
viewers, it risks becoming routine. Even coverage from Belgrade
itself shows Yugoslavs during daylight hours going about their
lives despite the destruction that has occurred around them.
The last three weeks have been an often confusing series of
events. For NATO there have been some serious setbacks: an
accidental missile strike against the Chinese embassy in Belgrade;
an attack on the village of Korisa in southern Kosovo in which 100
civilians were killed; a threat by Russia to pull out of the peace
efforts if its mediation work continues to be ignored; a member
nation, Greece, calling for a temporary halt to the bombing; a
mistaken bombing of a position held by the KLA; the bombing of a
prison in which 19 people died and a hospital in Belgradea media
relations disaster for NATO. China, referring to NATO's "barbarous
act" refused to accept Western apologies and placed a major
obstacle in the path of the peace initiative by saying that the UN
Security Council, of which it is a member, could not discuss peace
plans until NATO stopped bombing. In the case of Korisa, NATO has
called it a "legitimate military target" and has accused the Serbs
of using civilians in Kosovo has human shields.
And yet . . . the bombing has intensified; there has been no
let-up. There is increasing talk (and concern) about ground troops.
U.S. former military chief Colin Powell has criticized the conduct
of the war saying that NATO must go "all out" to achieve its aims.
Britain and the U.S. have made public shows of unity, and NATO has
doubled the size of the peacekeeping forces that it says will
eventually police the situation in Kosovo. There are reports of
hundreds of Serb reservists returning home from Kosovo "without
orders," meaning they have deserted.
And clear skies over Yugoslavia have facilitated the bombing.
More power facilities, and now water facilities, have been
destroyed. The civilian population must increasingly be feeling the
effect.
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Most important perhaps, in terms of the international pressure
and involvement in this war to force an end to the hostilities,
Russia and NATO countries have agreed on a draft peace plan for
Kosovo. It calls for UN-endorsed "effective international civil and
security presences" as well as substantial self-government for
Kosovo. This doesn't seem so far off the original Rambouillet
agreement.
June 1, 1999: The tenth week Slobodan Milosevic has been
indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY). A warrant has been signed for his arrest. This
may be a significant blow against Serbia's leader and a gesture in
support of NATO's campaign. Russia, however, is still causing some
dissension in the ranks. Foreign Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin has
said that the NATO campaign has set back relations between the two
superpowers "by several decades."
Favourable weather has continued to facilitate the bombing. But
NATO planes have hit an old people's home in southeastern Serbia, a
bridge on which 11 civilians died, and Albanian army forces, in
error, on the Albanian side of the Kosovar border.
There is a report that differences between NATO and Russia are
being resolved.
June 10, 1999: The eleventh and final week On Wednesday, June 2,
Russian and European envoyshaving at last settled their
differencespresented Slobodan Milosevic with a peace proposal,
which he accepted the following day after it was approved by the
Serbian parliament. The bombing, however, did not stop. Compliance
with NATO's demands was something the alliance was not going to
take for granted. And as it turned out, there was another breakdown
in talks aimed at assuring Serbian withdrawal from Kosovo. Once
again NATO threatened to intensify the bombing, but after a
heart-stopping week, yesterday, the 78th day of this bombing
campaign, Yugoslavia agreed to a full withdrawal. Today the bombing
stopped; the war in Kosovo has come to an end. There are reports,
however, that Serbs in Kosovo, fearing reprisals, are now preparing
to flee.
Witnessing this conflict from the safe haven of Canada, I am
reminded of the terrible, and sadly universal nature of war. War
seems to be a human malady for which a cure constantly eludes us.
As a frequent news watcher, I have been a "media consumer" of many
wars and in each war I see on televisionbeginning with the Vietnam
War, the first "televised war"some common themes recur, universal
issues that are reflected in much of the human behaviour
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we see every day: power struggles, the need for dominance and
control, the inability or unwillingness to accept differences,
despotism, hatred, and vengefulness. Is war endemic to human
society? Are we the most aggressive animals on the planet? How thin
is the veneer of civilization? I have been re-reading The Plague by
the French existentialist writer Albert Camus. One passage in
particular gives a brief insightdare I say hope? Camus was a writer
who created universal awareness in his work. His simple reminder in
this passage of the human folly that perpetuates warand the need to
identify with the reality of individual sufferingis perhaps the
fundamental lesson we can all learn.
"There have been many plagues and wars in history: yet always
plagues and wars take people equally by surprise. . . . When a war
breaks out people say It's too stupid; it can't last long.' But
though a war may well be too stupid,' that doesn't prevent its
lasting. Stupidity has a knack of getting its way. . . . A
pestilence isn't a thing made to man's measure; therefore we tell
ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogey of the mind, a bad dream
that will pass away. . . . [S]ome thirty or so great plagues known
to history [have] accounted for nearly a hundred million deaths.
But what are a hundred million deaths? When one has served in a
war, one hardly knows what a dead man is, after a while. And since
a dead man has no substance unless one has actually seen him dead,
a hundred million corpses broadcast through history are no more
than a puff of smoke in the imagination." From The Plague by Albert
Camus, translated from the French by Stuart Gilbert.
Discussion 1. A plague is a contagious bacterial disease that
develops from a micro-organism and spreads rapidly over a wide
area. Metaphorically, it has often come to mean a great trouble or
a great evil that is visited on human beings as a punishment for
some wrongdoing. In what ways is war like a plague? In order to
answer this question, suggest what is at the core of a plague, how
it spreads, how it is controlled or stopped, and the effects of a
plague not only on people's bodies but on their minds.
2. Because human history has known so much war and human
destruction, one can understand why our minds might become
defensive to the point where "one hardly knows what a dead man is."
Why is it necessary for us to think in terms of individual deaths
and individual suffering in the war in Kosovo? How do we assure
that those who suffered and died in this war do not become another
"puff of smoke in the imagination" of humankind?
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Follow-up Activity Choose a major national or international news
event and begin to keep a journal of factual information, opinions,
and your own personal comments and reactions. As your journal
entries grow, you will find that you are becoming more and more
informed and consequently involved in the particular event you have
chosen. Revisit your journal from time to time and examine your
perceptions. You will see a growing awareness and a growing
knowledge base. Imagine reading your journal in 10 years time.
Imagine your descendants reading it.
Introduction Hardware and Software Diary of a Balkan War Kosovo
In Black and White Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger
viewers.
mailto:[email protected]://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/http://www.cbc.ca/television/
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SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Reasserting Serb Rule Kosovo In Black and
White
All wars have been documented, through myths and legends,
first-person oral or written accounts, paintings, photographs,
radio and television coverage, or through some other medium. As you
read the following excerpts, think about how the "truth" about the
war in Kosovo can best be recorded.
"Two of the prints were all my own work and I considered them
pretty fair examples of the photographer's art. The first was a
study of a heap of amputated limbs; arrayed against a white
background, they had the gravity of a still-life. I was pleased
with the tuft of grass spraying up from a clenched fist. The second
was of the funeral ceremony held in the region we had recently
quitted. Removing this second print from its waxed wrappings I
examined it for fading. It was acute, the white vestments of the
chaplain and the winding cloths of the dead standing out against
the stony landscape. Possibly there was a little blurring in the
left-hand corner, but it was scarcely noticeable." From Master
Georgie by Beryl Brainbridge. In this novel about the Crimean War,
Pompey Jones, a self-taught photographer documents in cold,
detached images the horror of war.
"Television, and most of all, reality-based' television
programming, it seemed to me, had come to share in the chief vice
of pornography, which, in presenting a reproduced image (in other
words, by extracting or excising from its native context the rather
narrow spectrum of information content which the medium is capable
of reproducing), devalues the original act by making it, as it
were, mechanical and strictly objective. Everything in the image,
by the process of extracting it from the context on which it relies
for life, for its existence, is reduced to an object, and objects
can interact in no other way than mechanically." From Ockham's
Razor by Wade Rowland. In this non-fiction work, former CBC
journalist Rowland describes a trip to Europe with his children
during which he tries to extract them from their North American
culture and mindset,
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introduce them to new, authentic experiences, and tries to teach
them "how to be civilized."
In "Exile and Return," a photographic essay in the July 19,
1999, issue of The New Yorker magazine, photographer Gilles Peress
documents the "full sweep of history" that occurred in Kosovo in
only three months. The black and white images are an undiluted
representation of what occurred in Kosovo during this war. The art
and talent of the photographer communicate a reality that is stark,
cruel, graphic, brutal, and simple. There is no colour in the
artwork, no sound track, no subtitles, no narration, no
interruptions. The magazine reader sees what the camera saw. In a
"beautiful" two-page photograph, Albanian refugees aboard a bus
arrive in Macedonia "only to find that most Macedonians did not
want them there, either." Their faces, especially the eyes, show
fear and suspicion, and one gets a sense of the interminable
journey they have begun. Reflected in the bus windows is a rough
landscape in which we see anonymous Macedonians clustered here and
there. In this mirror image, one senses a parallel apprehension and
wariness. Another two-page spread is a close-up of two women's
faces. Both faces are vivid with grief and torment. One woman
raises her hand to her face as if she were attempting to repress
the vocalization of her despair. What may be the most disturbing of
the photographs is that of an old woman, "her wrists broken by
Serbs, who died by the road, and is tended by fellow-refugees who
do not know her name." The toothless woman, head wrapped in a
simple scarf, is laid out on a blanket. A refugee gently places his
hands on her thorax as if he were trying to alleviate the suffering
of the woman, even in death. There is in the photograph a silent
despair, which is also felt by the viewer. How could anyone be so
cruel to this woman? For what possible reasons would anyone want to
harm her? What pain and fear must she have experienced? The
questions, like the suffering, seem futile.
Discussion and Activities 1. In what ways can art serve history
in recording the events of a war? What seems incongruous or
contradictory about artists depicting war? Give specific examples
of art forms that you have seen or heard that express the truth
about war.
2. The Crimean War was another tragic war, best known perhaps
because of the work and humanity of Florence Nightingale. In this
war there was great loss of life and great suffering. What is
especially acute in the way in which the character Pompey Jones
describes his
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photograph of the results of this war? In your opinion, does he
remain detached from his subject? Why does he mention "a little
blurring in the left-hand corner"?
3. To what extent do you think that television coverage of the
war in Kosovo devalued the tragic events of Kosovo by extracting
them from their context mechanically and objectively? Does this
News in Review program do that?
4. Why might simple black and white photographs be the best
medium for depicting the horror of war? What must the viewer do
when looking at a black and white photograph that is not required
in other, more colourful media?
5. Find a black and white photograph of an event in the war in
Kosovo that you feel is particularly close to the truth of the
conflict. Present your photo to the class and explain why you have
chosen it. You may wish to describe its composition, its artistic
elements, and the role of both the photographer and the viewer.
6. Watch this segment of this News in Review special program
again. Working in small groups, choose collectively a short segment
that you find particularly effective in communicating the reality
of the war in Kosovo. Discuss why you find it effective and then
choose a spokesperson who will show the segment to the class and
present your findings.
Introduction Hardware and Software Diary of a Balkan War Kosovo
In Black and White Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger
viewers.
mailto:[email protected]://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/http://www.cbc.ca/television/
-
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Reasserting Serb Rule Discussion, Research,
and Essay Questions
1. World leaders, including Prime Minister Jean Chretien,
attended a 40-country Balkans summit in Sarajevo, the capital of
Bosnia at the end of July 1999. In a communiqué, the summit leaders
said, "We regret that we were not able to invite the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia [Slobodan Milosevic] to be present today as
a full and equal participant in the Stability Pact." Later, in the
summit's final communiqué, the leaders called on Yugoslav
authorities "to embrace democratic change" or remain an outcast.
Should Milosevic or representatives of his government have been
present? Why did they exclude him? How does making him an "outcast"
advance peace in the Balkans? Was this an alliance against Serbia
as opposed to an alliance for peace? Using these focus questions,
discuss the implications of this summit.
2. At the present time, some 34 000 troops of the NATO-led K-FOR
peacekeeping force control Kosovo. This is 16 000 fewer than
originally planned. Under the terms of the peace agreement, the
Kosovo Liberation Army must demilitarize fully. The United Nations
is to recruit a multinational police force of about 3000, which
will enforce law and order in the province until a local force is
established. Under the UN's special representative Bernard
Kouchner, a civilian administration will be set up that will help
resettle refugees and provide basic services. How will these
interim measures maintain peace in the area? Suggest the purpose
and mandate of each.
3. Of the estimated 900 000 refugees (internal and external) who
fled their homes in Kosovo, more than 700 000 have returned at the
time of this writing. The United Nations refugee agency listed
their key needs as: shelter, food aid, and the removal of land
mines. Write a one-page "backgrounder" for an aid agency in which
you create an awareness of these figures and how they represent the
ongoing costs of this war and all wars.
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4. The evidence of massacres of ethnic Albanians grew following
the end of the war. Consistent accounts and mass graves confirmed
the atrocities. Moreover, the International Criminal Tribunal's
indictment of Slobodan Milosevic lists six specific sites: Racak,
Bella Cerka, Velika Krushna, Djakovica, Crkolez, and Izbica.
Research one of these "specimen charges of crimes against humanity"
and report your findings.
5. Since the withdrawal of Yugoslav troops from Kosovo, tens of
thousands of Serbs, and many Roma, fled the province, fearing
reprisals. According to the Yugoslav Red Cross, about 100 000
people fled to Serbia. Serbs in Kosovo have been attacked and
kidnapped, and Serb homes have been looted and burned. If the
international community wishes to preserve the ethnic mix that has
always existed in Kosovo, how will it accomplish this? Is
preserving the historical mix in the best interests of the Balkans?
Why is this the fundamental dilemma of this region of the world and
of so many other war-torn regions?
Introduction Hardware and Software Diary of a Balkan War Kosovo
In Black and White Discussion, Research, and Essay Questions
Indicates material appropriate or adaptable for younger
viewers.
mailto:[email protected]://newsinreview.cbclearning.ca/http://www.cbc.ca/television/
newsinreview.cbclearning.caContentsIntroductionHardware and
SoftwareDiary of a BalkanKosovo in Black and WhiteDiscussion,
Research, and Essay Questions