Copyright 2004 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
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REALITY MACEDONIA

Web posted October 18, 2004
Source: Vreme, Skopje #216, October 18, 2004

ANA Again Calling for Greater Albania

Greater Albania needs to be created with the unification of Albanians who live in Macedonia, Albania, Kosovo and Serbia and Montenegro, claims the leader of ANA, Idajet Beqiri, in an interview with Tirana newspaper Koha Jone.

According to Beqiri, the minority who live in the territories where the majority are Albanian do not need to be afraid of an all- Albanian nation, rather to understand that the Albanians are the masters, and then they will be respectable.

Beqiri told the newspaper that only a greater Albania would stabilize the Balkans where many wars have occurred, due to the fact that Albanians don't live in the one country.

Albanian Premier Fatos Nano not long ago accused the ANA and Beqiri of trafficking. Beqiri is now suing Nano for defamation and is seeking 160,000 euros in compensation.

Translated by Vicky Stojanovska.

Secret dinner in Washington - Holbrooke and Thaqi planned terror

Blic daily, Belgrade,
October 18, 2004

Less than a week before the clashes in Kosovo and Metohija occurred, a group of Albanian lobbyists from USA held a meeting at which they decided to help Kosovo Albanians to force international community to give independence to Kosovo. 'Blic' got this information from well-informed sources in the US.

As 'Blic' further finds out this informal meeting was held at the initiative of David Philips, deputy director of the Center for preventive action within Council for international relations in New York. The meeting was held at his home with light diner.

Apart from Philips, known to our public opinion for his offer to Serbian authorities to sell Kosovo for three billion Euros, Richard Holbrooke, former USA envoy to the Balkans was also present. Then there were Randy Bears, senior political advisor to Senator John Kerry, actual candidate for the President of USA and several people from former Clinton's administration close to Albanian lobby. The guest of honor at the diner was Hashim Thaqi, former leader of Kosovo Liberation Army, visiting USA at that time.

According to our unofficial information. Richard Holbrooke pointed out at that meeting that independence of Kosovo and its membership in European Union was the best way for establishment of peace in the Balkan region. The guests discussed possibilities for media campaign and accepted certain guidelines for the future actions.

'Blic' source says that the guests agreed that the first good opportunity should be waited for beginning of attack.

Such opportunity occurred several days later when Albanians used the tragic drowning of their three children as an excuse to begin the campaign of terror against Serbs. Thaqui then informs the public opinion that he 'interrupts his visit to USA to return and calm down the situation'.

While Holbrooke and Thaqui are well-known to our public opinion, Philips and Bears can be treated as people from shadow. One fact about Bears is that he is of Albanian origin. It is believed that in case that John Kerry wins presidential election, Bear might take the position of the US Secretary of State.

As regards Philips, the official Internet site of influential American non-government organization Council for international relations he is described as director of Center for preventive action within the Council.

The center is studying conflicts and ways for their prevention. His articles on the Balkans in which he mainly presented anti-Serbian stances were published in the leading newspapers including New York Times, Christian Science Monitor and International Herald Tribune.

'Blic' sources, close to American administration, said on condition of anonymity that Philips had been dealing with the Balkans for a longer period of time and that he was regularly present at all meetings dealing with this topic.

Over the years of crisis, Philips had very close relations with the regime of former president Slobodan Milosevic as well with the leaders of then opposition. He chaired the team of experts and American officials who in the middle of the 90s worked on so-called Albanian issue.

In December 1995, David Philips and another six Americans arrived in Belgrade and met with then Serbian president Milosevic. He managed on that occasion to get from Milosevic permission for opening American information office in Pristina. From Belgrade Philips went to Pristina and met there with Albanian politicians. He then went to Skopje and finally to Washington where he met with Richard Holbrooke and informed him about impressions from journey to Serbia. Somewhat later those impressions were published in a report called 'Towards permanent peace in Southeast Europe." In that report there was requested for sanctions against Belgrade should remain in force and that work on strengthening of American office in Pristina should continue.

Only eight months later, in August 1996, Philips came to Belgrade again together with his associate and met with Milosevic. This time he managed to get approval for opening of schools in Kosovo and began negotiations about Milosevic-Ibrahim Rugova meeting.

After that Philips was more focused on Serbian opposition actively participating in meetings in which leading Serbian politicians participated.

One of the most important meetings, no doubt, happened in April 1997 in New York when a round table on Serbian-Albanian relations was held at the organization on ethnic relations, PER. Albanians were led by Fehmi Agani, Mahmut Bakali, Adem Demaci, Hidajet Hiseni and Veton Suroi. Americans were led by David Philips. Cyrus Vance, Rudolph Perina and some other experts for the Balkans were also present. Serbs were represented by Vuk Draskovic, Miroljub Labus, Dragoljub Micunovic, Vesna Pesic and Dusan Janjic.

Then it was agreed that agreement on Kosovo between Albanians and Serbs was to be reached in negotiations. It was also agreed that Helsinki principles about unchangeable borders were to be respected. The sale of Kosovo, as far as known, was not discussed then.

Kerry Campaign Financed By Terrorists

Written by: Andy Wilcoxson

Introduction

John Kerry, the Democratic presidential candidate, is being given money by an Albanian terrorist organization known as the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA or UCK in Albanian).

The KLA is currently smuggling weapons into Kosovo as part of a plot to attack American and other UN peacekeepers, should the UN Security Counsel refuse their demand for Kosovo's secession from Serbia and Montenegro.

About the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA/UCK)

In order to fully understand the significance of John Kerry's involvement with the KLA it is first necessary to understand what sort of an organization the KLA is. The KLA is a terrorist organization with ties to Osama bin Laden and the Iranian government. The KLA's main objective is to break Kosovo, which has been an integral part of Serbia for centuries, away from Serbia.

The KLA began on the radical fringe of Kosovo-Albanian politics, originally made up of diehard Marxist-Leninists as well as by descendants of the fascist militias raised by the Italians in World War II. [1]

The KLA made its military debut in February 1996 with the bombing of several camps housing Serbian refugees from wars in Croatia and Bosnia. [2]

In early 1998 the KLA caught the attention of the U.S. Special Envoy for Kosovo, Robert Gelbard. Gelbard told Agence France Presse "We condemn very strongly terrorist actions in Kosovo. The UCK is, without any questions, a terrorist group." [3]

The KLA has been credibly linked to the notorious terrorist Osama bin Laden. In 1999 The Washington Times obtained intelligence documents that showed what is described as a 'link' between bin Laden, and the KLA --including a common staging area in Tropoje, Albania, a center for Islamic terrorists. The reports said bin Laden's al-Qaeda organization has both trained and financially supported the KLA. [4]

In 1998 Fatos Klosi, the head of SHIK, the Albanian intelligence service, told London's Sunday Times newspaper that Bin Laden had visited Albania himself. His was one of several fundamentalist groups that had sent units to fight in Kosovo, Klosi said. [5]

In 2002 the U.S. State Department issued a report giving Iran the dubious distinction of being "the most active state sponsor of terrorism." Their report went on to report that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps and Ministry of Intelligence and Security were involved in the planning of and support for terrorist acts and continued to exhort a variety of groups that use terrorism to pursue their goals. [6]

The Jerusalem Post reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guardsmen were training the KLA in 1998. The newspaper said that "Selected groups of Albanians were sent to Iran to study that country's version of militant Islam." The same article went on to report that "millions of dollars have been funneled through Bosnia and Albania to buy arms for the KLA. The money is raised from both Islamic governments and from Islamic communities in
Western Europe, particularly Germany." [7]

Yossef Bodansky, the Director of the U.S. House Congressional Task Force on Terrorism and Unconventional Warfare, wrote a report for the magazine Defense and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy saying that "In the Fall of 1997, the uppermost leadership in Tehran ordered the IRGC [Iranian Revolutionary Guards Corps] High Command to launch a major program for shipping large quantities of weapons and other military supplies to the
Albanian clandestine organizations in Kosovo. [Ayatollah] Khamene'i's instructions specifically stipulated that the comprehensive military assistance was aimed to enable the Muslims 'to achieve the independence' of the province of Kosovo."

Bodansky's article corroborates the Jerusalem Post's account. He wrote that in 1997 "the Iranians began sending promising Albanian and UCK commanders for advanced military training in al-Quds [special] forces and IRGC camps in Iran." [8]

In addition to the direct financing that the KLA receives from Islamic terror organizations, the organization also relies on funds raised by the Albanian mafia. [9]

The Baltimore Sun, citing western intelligence officials, reported that part of the KLA's funding comes from "powerful Albanian mafia organizations that deal in narcotics, prostitution and arms smuggling across Europe." [10]

The London Times reported that the KLA was "an outgrowth of the Kosovo Albanian mafia." Their report said, "these Kosovan criminals operate the most powerful drug-running network in Europe." [11]

According to police in the Czech Republic, Kosovo Albanian drug traffickers fund the KLA with proceeds from the heroin trade. "Kosovo Albanian drug smugglers have become a major phenomenon," said Jiri Komorous, head of the Czech Republic's national narcotics police, who added that his heroin division "spends about 80 percent of its time" on Kosovar drug gangs. [12]

Interpol estimates that Kosovo Albanians may control 40 percent of the European heroin trade. In Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and the Czech Republic, they may have as much as 70 percent of the market, according to the estimates. [13]

In addition to drug trafficking. The KLA kidnaps women and young girls and forces them into prostitution.

During NATO's 1999 bombardment of Yugoslavia, which resulted in the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Kosovo refugees, the KLA robbed refugee families and forced refugee girls into prostitution.

According to the London Times, "Reports from Macedonia and Albania confirm that KLA 'minders' [inside the refugee camps] ensure that all refugees peddle the same line when speaking to Western journalists. KLA gangsters rob them of any remaining cash. And KLA pimps driving Mercedes kidnap refugee girls for prostitution in Italy." [14]

The Albanian mafia's involvement in prostitution is huge. In 2001 The Economist, citing an internal British Home Office briefing, reported that "Albanians or Kosovars now control 'around 70%' of massage parlors in Soho. That ties in with a report last year [2000] by the National Criminal Intelligence Service, which noted a long-term threat from organized Albanian gangs who run immigration and prostitution rackets across Western Europe to
pursue their goals."

The article says that there is "little the police can do. They say that immigrant sex workers refuse to testify because the gangs threaten reprisals against the women's loved ones. Since these groups operate internationally, the British police cannot protect the families of the workers. They are powerless against such intimidation."

Paul Holmes, who heads London's Metropolitan Police's Vice Unit says "All our intelligence and evidential experience is that these women are being used, effectively as sexual slaves, by ruthless, exploitative pimps." Tackling prostitution is harder than ever. But it is not the sex that is the problem. It is the slavery. [15]

The Albanian mafia has become extremely powerful as a world-wide criminal force. The effects of the Albanian mafia are even being felt in the United States where they are taking over organized crime.

The FBI says, thousands of Albanians and others who fled the Balkans for the United States in recent years have emerged as a serious organized crime problem, threatening to displace La Cosa Nostra (LCN) families as kingpins of U.S. crime. [16]

According to Chris Swecker, the head of the FBI's criminal division, Albanian gangsters have already seized control of some rackets from New York Mafia families. [17]

John Kerry and the KLA

The leader of the KLA is a man named Hashim Thaci. Thaci, who goes under the nom de guerre "Snake," attended the Democratic Party's convention in Boston earlier this year.

Upon returning from the convention, Thaci told the Albanian-Language KosovaLive agency, "It was a very successful visit at the Democratic Convention, where the PDK [Thachi's political party] had been invited as a guest. It was confirmed once again that the Democratic authorities would recognize and respect the will of the people of Kosova for
self-determination" [18]

In addition to the KLA leader's attendance at the Democratic Convention was the presence of KLA members at a John Kerry fundraiser in New York.

In September, the Dutch Television station VPRO produced a documentary entitled "De Brooklyn Connectie." This documentary follows a KLA terrorist named Florin Kraniqi as he attends a John Kerry fundraiser, and then smuggles weapons into Kosovo for a war that is being planned against American and other UN Peacekeepers there.

The video can be downloaded from the VPRO website at:

http://www.vpro.nl/programma/tegenlicht/afleveringen/18793157/

Kraniqi lives in Brooklyn, where he allegedly works as a roofer; although his big house, his shiny new car, and his swimming pool, suggest that he makes money in other ways.

The first few minutes of the video consist of Kraniqi praising the KLA and accusing the Serbs.

At the 11:08 mark of the video, he goes to a John Kerry fundraiser together with a group of KLA members. They are shown writing checks to the Kerry campaign for thousands of dollars each.

While at the fundraiser, they openly identify themselves as the KLA. Kraniqi is seen introducing himself and his brothers-in-arms to Wesley Clark Commander of the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia, and former Democratic presidential candidate). Kraniqi says, "Mr. Clark. This is your group, your KLA." Clark then praises the group saying, "They fought against tremendous odds."

Then, Richard Holbrooke (Kerry's Sr. Foreign Policy Adviser), who apparently knows one of the terrorists, comes over and jokingly says, "He almost got me killed." To which Kraniqi quips, "He would not let his Kalashnikov go. He will keep his Kalashnikov." Then Holbrooke, Clark, and this group of KLA terrorists all have a good laugh.

It is rather disturbing to see these high officials in the Democratic Party having such a relaxed and friendly exchange with a group of terrorists, eventhough they have just given thousands of dollars to John Kerry's campaign.

Kraniqi makes clear that he expects a quid-pro-quo for his donation. He says, "With money you can do amazing things in this country. Senators and congressmen are looking for donations. If you fund them and raise the money they need for their campaign they pay you back."

At the 29:03 mark of the video, Kraniqi visits a gun store and purchases weapons to use in Kosovo. From this point forward you get to see how the KLA smuggles weapons into Kosovo, disguising them as humanitarian aid and so forth.

Near the end of the video, at the 46:00 mark, you finally learn why the KLA has been smuggling all of those weapons into Kosovo. The Dutch TV reporter says, "In Pristina I talked to the NATO spokesman and he told me that he was very successful in disarming the Albanians."

Kraniqi laughs and replies, "It's a NATO propaganda. No one ever is going to disarm Albanians. There is no way. No NATO, no one is going to disarm Albanians. [...] NATO can collect a few arms. But most Albanians in Kosovo are very well armed. Just incase NATO pulls out, or we don't get our independence peacefully then we'll use those weapons."

Because the video has been edited, the end of this conversation is way back at the 4:08 mark (you can tell that it is part of the same conversation because he is standing in front of the same wall, in the same lighting conditions, and wearing the same clothes).

The Dutch Reporter asks: "It's going to be war?"

Kraniqi replies: "Hope not, but if it is were ready; if not this spring then the next one. If Kosova does not get its independence there will be a war."

In case you are unaware of this fact, the only ones in Kosovo that the KLA can have a war with are the UN peacekeeping troops, which include Americans. The Serbs all withdrew in 1999 after the NATO bombing.

This is not such a thinly veiled threat, Kraniqi is saying that if the KLA does not get its way then it will attack the UN Troops who are stationed in Kosovo, and those UN troops include Americans.

These terrorists have already shown that they are not afraid to attack the UN. In September, UCK sniper attacks on UN vehicles forced the UN to stop using the Kosovska Mitrovica-Leposavic road between 9:00 PM and 6:00 AM.
[19]

Conclusion

The KLA is clearly a terrorist organization. It is backed by Islamic terror organizations. It is linked both to Osama bin Laden and to the Government of Iran. It is heavily involved in drug trafficking and forced prostitution.

The KLA is directly threatening the safety of American personnel stationed in Kosovo. They're smuggling weapons in for a war against a UN force that includes Americans, and they're so brazen that they'll do for everybody to see on Dutch national TV.

John Kerry, who was on the Senate Intelligence Committee from 1993 until 2000, must know who the KLA is, but he clearly doesn't care.

Instead of condemning the KLA, Kerry takes money from them. And instead of distancing itself from the KLA, Kerry's party invites the KLA's leader to come to their convention in Boston.

The United States of America, was brutally attacked by terrorists on 9/11, we are in a life or death struggle against terrorism, and here is John Kerry taking money from terrorists; if there was ever anybody that we needed to keep out of the White House it's John Kerry.

Footnotes

[1] "Fog of War -- Coping With the Truth About Friend and Foe: Victims Not Quite Innocent," New York Times, March 28, 1999

[2] Jane's Intelligence Review, October 1, 1996

[3] Agence France Presse, February 23, 1998

[4] "KLA Rebels Train in Terrorist Camps: Bin Laden Offers Training Too,"
Washington Times, May 4, 1999, pg. A1

[5] "Bin Laden opens European terror base in Albania," The Sunday Times (London), November 29, 1998, Sunday

[6] FORM item 9, U.S. Department of State, Patterns of Global Terrorism -2002, dtd April 30, 2003

[7] "Kosovo Seen as New Islamic Bastion," Jerusalem Post, September 14, 1998

[8] "Italy Becomes Iran's New Base for Terrorist Operations," by Yossef Bodansky, Defense and Foreign Affairs Strategic Policy (London), February 1998

[9] "Albanian Mafia, This Is How It Helps The Kosovo Guerrilla Fighters," Corriere della Sera (Milan, Italy), October 15, 1998

[10] "Speculation Plentiful, Facts Few About Kosovo Separatist Group," Baltimore Sun, March 6, 1998

[11] "In spontaneously opening our hearts to these Kosovan refugees, we are opening our country to organised criminality," The Times (London), May 6, 1999, Thursday

[12] "A New Drug Route is Traced to the Old Balkans Anarchy" The Boston Globe, June 3, 2001, Sunday, Pg. A14

[13] Ibid.

[14] "In spontaneously opening our hearts to these Kosovan refugees, we are opening our country to organised criminality," The Times (London), May 6, 1999, Thursday

[15] "Prostitution: SoHopeless; Albanian organised crime dominates prostitution in Soho" The Economist - June 21, 2001

[16] "FBI: Albanian mobsters 'new Mafia'," CNN, August 18, 2004

[17] "Hunt for 'terrorism nexus' changes how FBI handles crime," USA Today - August 19, 2004

[18] "Thaci Says US Democrats Support Self-Determination of People of Kosova," KosovaLive - Wednesday, August 4, 2004 [FBIS Document #
FBIS-EEU-2004-0805]

[19] "UN Pulls Out of Night-Time Use of Kosovo Road For Security Reasons" BBC Monitoring, September 24, 2004 - FoNet news agency, Belgrade, in Serbian 1151 gmt 23 Sep 04

REUTERS ALERTNET

Surroi warns of more violence in UN-run Kosovo
18 Oct 2004 14:54:10 GMT

By Matthew Robinson

PRISTINA, Serbia and Montenegro, Oct 18 (Reuters) - People in Kosovo could turn to violence again next year if there is no change in the way the United Nations protectorate is run, a Kosovo Albanian publisher-turned-politician said on Monday.

"If Kosovo continues with the present political structure and lack of economic policy, in six months we'll run into a social explosion," Veton Surroi, who is highly regarded in the West, told Reuters in an interview five days before a general election in the volatile Serbian province.

The election on Oct. 23 is Kosovo's second since the United Nations and NATO took control in 1999 after a 78-day NATO bombing campaign to halt Serb repression of Albanian civilians during an Albanian guerrilla insurgency.

Last March, frustration with the status quo fuelled by high unemployment and almost zero economic growth, boiled over in the the worst bout of violence since the war.

Nineteen people died and up to 800 homes were damaged or destroyed as mobs of Albanians overran NATO-guarded enclaves housing Serbs and other minorities.

"The international community woke up in March, but I don't think it's out of bed yet," said Surroi, 43, the millionaire publisher of popular Kosovo daily Koha Ditore and now leader of a new political party, ORA (Hour).

Albanians, who make up 90 percent of Kosovo's two million people, expected independence to quickly follow the end of the war. But five years later Kosovo remains in political limbo, its fate tied to meeting U.N.-set standards of democracy and human rights.

Surroi said there was a consensus within the international community that Kosovo should become independent but doubts over whether it could function.

"We will see an independent Kosovo, with some strings attached. I think within two years," he said.

LITTLE CHANGED

The West has now set mid-2005 as a target date for tackling the final status of Kosovo, which is still formally part of Serbia and Montenegro. NATO has deployed 2,000 more soldiers for the election period, raising its presence to 20,000.

The son of a former communist diplomat, Surroi echoed analysts and Western diplomats who say Kosovo's economic stagnation and unknown "final status"
are at the root of continued tensions between Albanians and the Serb minority.

"If the results of the last elections are repeated, we'll have the same policy and more of the same people, and that would be catastrophic for Kosovo," he said in an American accent from years spent at American schools in Bolivia and Mexico.

"In March you saw the enormous capacity for destruction in this society, just sleeping below the surface ... There's the continuous danger of falling into a lull again, since people tend to be crisis-driven," Surroi said.

"Little has changed since March," he added.

Diplomats say Surroi's political appeal is limited to the intellectual elite and that ORA is unlikely to roll back the dominance of the two main parties led by Kosovo President Ibrahim Rugova and former guerilla leader Hashim Thaci.

But his straight-talking campaign has struck a chord with some and he could well play kingmaker in the next coalition.

Real power in Kosovo resides with the U.N. mission, UNMIK, which runs law and order and much of Kosovo's economic policy and has a veto over legislation.

Surroi said it was now time Kosovo's political leaders seized the "intellectual lead" from their U.N. overseers.

www.b92.net

Beta News Agency, Belgrade

October 18, 2004

Elections work towards independence

GRACANICA -- Monday - The Kosovo Anti-Elections Headquarters said that Serb participation in the Kosovo elections would be a step that would further the movement of Kosovo independence.

"We have no right to do that to our children, ancestors and roots. We have even less reasons to do this in the interest of our enemies who have been driving us out and killing us for the past five years, setting fire to our homes and sacred places." a statement read.

The Anti-Elections campaign is made up of representatives of the Serbian National Council and Serbian municipality officials that are against Serbian President Boris Tadic's decision to encourage Kosovo Serbs to participate in this month's parliamentary elections.

No Joint Statement on Kosovo by Western Balkans Foreign Ministers
The Foreign Affairs Ministers of the Western Balkan countries refused to include a resolution on Kosovo in their joint statement concluding their informal meeting in the Macedonian town of Ohrid last Friday. Despite the insistence of Serbia & Montenegro (SCG) Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic that Kosovo be mentioned, his counterparts from Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Albania and Croatia refused to do so, deeming the matter of internal and not of regional importance. Draskovic claimed Kosovo was a problem related to the entire region rather than just to the SCG, and called on the international community to fulfil its obligations stemming from UN Security Council Resolution 1244 while stressing that "my state will not allow the formation of an independent territory within its borders," Beta reported. He concluded there would be no stability of the Western Balkans until the attainment of the full protection of the rights of Serbs and other non-Albanians in Kosovo, Tanjug reported.