Serbian Defense Minister: All Of Europe Belongs To NATO

[Magda Hassan]

The world is full of quislings it seems. I wonder how much he sold out for? No 'leadership' just a bunch of Capos.
http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-art...v_id=62375

Tanjug News Agency
October 15, 2009

Sutanovac: No rush to join NATO

-“Having the bad experience of 1999 in mind, and the culmination of the wrong policies, we must open a constructive debate now, and, in cooperation with the expert public, create a rational analysis of the most constructive level of cooperation between Serbia and NATO.”
-“Of our neighbors, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Croatia are full-fledged members, Macedonia is at its door, while Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina have defined Alliance membership as a foreign policy goal.”
-“For now it is our priority to make use of all mechanisms to become active members of this [NATO Partnership for Peace] program and reach the status of ‘advanced’ participants in the Partnership for Peace program, such as Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Ireland,” he said, adding that the opening of a Serbian mission in Brussels, planned for the end of the year, was the country’s main priority.
-"t is time to think about the possibility of an emotional ‘resetting’ of relations with NATO, by using the full potential of the Partnership for Peace program.”

BELGRADE: Defense Minister Dragan Sutanovac says that Serbia is not ***currently*** interested in applying for NATO membership.
....
He reiterated that parliament, along with a set of defense laws, was discussing the adoption of a national security and defense strategy.

In an editorial piece for weekly NIN, Sutanovac said that this topic was opened periodically in Serbia, in order to “appease ***demagogical party interests***, led by speculation, prejudice and a lack of knowledge regarding the facts.”

“Having the bad experience of 1999 in mind, and the culmination of the wrong policies, we must open a constructive debate now, and, in cooperation with the expert public, create a rational analysis of the most constructive level of cooperation between Serbia and NATO,” he said.

The defense minister said that NATO was not the same alliance of the 12 founders it once was, which was created as a response to an ideological conflict between East and West.

Today it is a political-military alliance of 28 countries, which, he said, was seen and accepted as an essential element of the European and international security order.

“Of our neighbors, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania and Croatia are full-fledged members, Macedonia is at its door, while Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina have defined Alliance membership as a foreign policy goal,” Sutanovac explained.

“Moreover, NATO also has a physical presence in Kosovo, and cooperation between the Serbian military and KFOR is key for the stability of the entire region,” Sutanovac said, reiterating that Serbia was participating in the NATO Partnership for Peace program.

“For now it is our priority to make use of all mechanisms to become active members of this program and reach the status of ‘advanced’ participants in the Partnership for Peace program, such as Austria, Switzerland, Finland, Sweden and Ireland,” he said, adding that the opening of a Serbian mission in Brussels, planned for the end of the year, was the country’s main priority.
....
Serbia and NATO have a difficult history and memories are still fresh and difficult, he said.

“But, ten years on, there needs to be a way to open constructive dialogue in society on the subject of NATO, not to turn every attempt at this into an excuse for quasi-patriotism and cheap demagogy,” the minister stressed.

“Maybe it is time to think about the possibility of an emotional ‘resetting’ of relations with NATO, by using the full potential of the Partnership for Peace program,” Sutanovac suggested.

[Magda Hassan]

Zivadin Jovanovic
President of the Belgrade Forum for a World of Equals


Belgrade Forum’s position on Serbia–NATO relationship

1. Serbia as a small peace-loving country should remain militarily neutral. Serbia should not be a member of any military alliance. Serbia differs from the rest of the countries in the region, firstly, in that Serbia had never been a member of either the Warsaw Pact or of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and, secondly, no country in the region has ever been the victim of a NATO attack except Serbia. Serbian neutrality has been defined by the National Assembly Resolution binding the government.

2. As Serbia has already joined the Partnership for Peace program, this also is part of the political reality. Austria, Ireland, Sweden, Finland, Malta and Switzerland are constitutionally neutral countries but members of the PFP.

3. Since its aggression against Serbia (Yugoslavia) in 1999, NATO has demonstrated that it was meant to be a precedent for launching similar attacks and military interventions in other regions out of its jurisdiction defined by the NATO Founding Act. Its offensive character was later confirmed in Iraq and elsewhere. In addition, NATO has demonstrated its ignorance of basic international principles and laws and the role of Uinted Nations Security Council.

4. Having played a leading role in supporting the unilateral, illegal secession of Kosovo and Metohija from Serbia in 2008, the U.S. government and NATO proved that their prime interest in 1999 was to establish a NATO state on 15 percent of Serbian state territory [Kosovo].

The U.S. first established the Camp Bondsteel military base in Kosovo and Metohija in 1999, the biggest American military camp outside of American soil. The U.S. government didn't have Serbia’s or the UN's authorization to establish such a base. It was an impetus to spread military bases further to the East (for example, threein Bulgaria , another four in Romania and so on). The U.S. and other NATO countries have established an “independent Kosovo’s Army” by “transforming” the terrorist KLA/UCK.

5. Surveys of public opinion show that about 75 percent of Serbia’s population is against Serbia’s membership in NATO.

6. As the part of the present government is clearly pro-NATO, they may be tempted to ignore the will of the majority and force a short-cut road towards NATO membership. That’s why many civil society associations, including the Belgrade Forum, as well as many political parties keep publically cautioning that the final decision on NATO membership is exclusively in the hands of the people who will have a say at a referendum.

7. Formally the government agrees with the inevitability of a referendum. But in practice nobody dares to organize it as the result is quite clear in advance.

So Serbia is faced with NATO advocates' tactics - step by step getting deeper involved in NATO structures and operations directing the process to the point of no return.

At the same time NATO and the government spend huge amounts of money propagating NATO as the guardian of paradise. The masters of this operation count the effects of promises of a “better life” to the nation suffering from poverty, unemployment and confusion.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stopnato

[Magda Hassan]

http://www.aco.nato.int/serbian-chief-of...aples.aspx

North Atlantic Treaty Organization
Allied Command Operations
December 4, 2013

Serbian Chief of the Defence General Staff visits JFC Naples
Story by Allied Joint Force Command Naples Public Affairs Office

Naples, Italy: The Chief of the Serbian Armed Forces General Staff, General Ljubiša Diković, paid an official visit to the Allied Joint Force Command Naples headquarters in Lago Patria on Tuesday 3 December till Wednesday 4 December 2013.

The Commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples, Admiral Bruce W. Clingan, met with Gen. Dikovic to highlight the cooperation between the Serbian Armed Forces and JFC Naples, as well as showcase the proficiency of the headquarters. The two officials discussed ways that NATO could further assist the Serbian Armed Forces in defense reform and implementation of the joint partnership goals.

He also received a detailed orientation of the organization, tasks and missions of JFC Naples and a tour the new Lago Patria base. Furthermore, he obtained a firsthand impression of the members' duties in a NATO multinational operations headquarters. Gen. Diković also met with the JFC Naples Assistant Chief of Staff for Civil Military Cooperation and military partnership, Brig. Gen. Richter, to discuss ways that JFC Naples could further assist the Serbian Armed Forces. He also visited the Senior Serbian National Representative, who has been serving in JFC Naples since August 2013.

The visit of General Dikovic was in the framework of the efforts by the operational level command JFC Naples to foster mutual understanding and cooperation with NATO partner nations.

[Tracy Riddle]

One of the things they discuss in the book Untold History of the United States is how successive US presidents lied to the Russians since the USSR collapsed, promising not to expand NATO, and then going ahead and doing it anyway. Right up to the borders of Russia. And we wonder why the Russians feel paranoid, after having been invaded numerous times throughout their history.

[Magda Hassan]

I haven't seen the last few episodes. So I'll watch them later to see how Olly covers that. Yeah, around the time of the Rejkjavik talks it was all arranged to disband Warsaw Pact and NATO. Peaceful co-exisitence. Only one of them kept the deal.