[alst-l] Carl Bildt

[Isa Blumi]

On the 12th of this month Carl Bildt, the former head
diplomat for the wests efforts in Bosnia submitted an
op-ed piece in Britains Times Supplement I think. 
Granted I have read extracts only from the article
but found it a most dangerous piece for Albanians. 
As I mentioned in my last communique (to which no one
responded) media and diplomatic focus is shifting on
matters concerning Kosova, the KLA and the ALbanian
population is beginning to lose the sympathies of
many---Bildts piece is indacative of this rising
current started by the French to get the SErbs off
the dipomatic hook by beginning to place EQUAL blame
on both sides.  Bildts suggestion that NATO seal off
the Albanian and Kosovar borders to halt the flow of
weapons is akin to that deadly policy of --everyone
is guilty in the Bosnian war---this I am afraid will
only grow as a sentiment among the less sympathetic
parties in the contact group, and I am afraid it is
only the US state department who is insistýng on 
putting exclusive pressure on Milosevic...This Bildt
first of all has no grounds for offering his opinion
on Kosova for the utter failure his tenure as head
diplomat in Bosnia proved to be a significant
component of the fall of --security zones and the
caving into territory concessions demanded by the
party that started the war and perpretrated the vast
majority of the astrosities.  For Bildt to suggest
Albanians are equally guilty in this conflict is
perverse and disgusting, it obscures the history of
this conflict and reduces the pain and trauma of
hundreds of thousands of people to that of a deserved
result of demanding political, cultural, economic and
human rights.  There are many Kosovars in Sweeden,
Bildt was prime minister at one time, I hope there is
someone organizing a boisterous public protest in
Stockholm and I hope the kosovars in Britain are
flooding the newspapers editorial office with equally
vigerous protests....this guy does not have the right
to comment and influence opinions on Kosova, he lost
that priviledge in the Bosnia fiasco---and yet there
he is, there are the French soldiers, as in Bosnia,
spewing contemptable pro-Serb sympathies when they
should at the very least be neutral on the ground. 
The recent book of the Dutch UN commander at
Srebrenica tells us all about the French who
commanded UN forces and his refusal to support UN
troops under attack by Serbs on that fateful day.  It
is happening in more nuanced ways this time but the
actors are the same and we better do something to
expose the similarities and put collective pressure,
in particular, on European governments.  

These are my furious, immediate thoughts from
Ýstanbul, I would hope we can get a little more
action going along the lines of exchanging our
various impressions from our little corner of the
world, I think it would be helpful for all of us to
know what is going on beyond our immediate media
market/community.

Best,

Isa Blumi





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