A Message from the Serbian-American Voters' League*
This November thousands of Serbian-Americans will be faced with an important choice. They will choose between a President who has endeavored to take a more even-handed approach to the former Yugoslavia than his predecessor, and a challenger whose old-guard allies and advisors have condoned the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Serbs from the Krajina, armed the Muslim side in Bosnia, started an illegal and unprovoked war against Serbia, and allowed Kosovo to become a KLA fiefdom.
As individuals we may disagree with some aspects of President George W. Bush’s policies. As members of the Serbian-American community, however, we have to take into account the fact that John Kerry’s foreign policy is being molded by Clinton’s veterans whose zeal for anti-Serb interventions has been abundantly proven. As The New York Times noted (April 11, 2004) Kerry’s foreign policy advisors are more hawkish than most Democrats: “He routinely consults [with] Biden, Berger and Holbrooke… Potential secretaries of State Biden and Holbrooke, for instance, were leading advocates of military intervention against Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic during the 1990s… Many of the key figures around Kerry staunchly supported the Kosovo war.”
“People are policy,” they say in Washington, and history suggests that ‘range of opinion’ will shape a new president’s foreign policy as much as the specific ideas the candidate advances during the campaign. Richard Holbrooke, who infamously called Serbs “murderous assholes” (The New Yorker, Nov. 6, 1995) is slated for a top diplomatic post if Kerry is elected. James Rubin, Albright’s chief propagandist during the Kosovo war, is Kerry’s senior foreign policy advisor. General Wesley Clark is also an advisor to Kerry, and tipped to be a candidate for Rumsfeld’s successor. These gentlemen need no introduction to the Serbian-American community.
Then there’s Dr. Ronald D. Asmus, Assistant Secretary of State for European Affairs under Albright and now Kerry’s foreign policy advisor, who says that the “unfinished business in the Balkans” is the most pressing foreign policy issue and who hailed the decision “to wage a war to stop Serbian aggression in Kosovo” as the defining moment for NATO. There’s Will Marshall, also Kerry’s foreign policy advisor, who enthuses over “the exemplary nature of the 1999 U.S.-led intervention in Kosovo” – a policy which he says was “consciously based on a mix of moral values and security interests with the parallel goals of halting a humanitarian tragedy and ensuring NATO’s credibility.” There’s Philip James, former senior Democratic Party strategist, who says that Abu Ghriab was “sickeningly reminiscent of the darkest days of Serbian supremacy in the Balkans.” The list is long, but the quotes are all alike.
On his web site Senator Kerry says of the Balkans, “We will continue to support the ethnic re-integration of Bosnia” and “The people of Kosovo must be able to determine their own future.” “Re-integration of Bosnia” is the code for the revision of the Dayton Agreement and the liquidation of the Republika Srpska demanded by the Muslims. “Self-determination” is the code for Kosovo’s independence.
Candidate Kerry says, “Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator who deserves his own special place in hell, but that was not, in itself, a reason to go to war.” Six years earlier Senator John Forbes Kerry voted Yes to S Con Res 21 (introduced by Biden, D-DE, the “Kosovo Resolution”) to authorize the war against Yugoslavia, which was adopted 58-41 on March 23, 1999.
Only a week after Mr. Kerry signed a vacuous note to the Serbian National Federation – ending it with “Ziveli i mnogaja ljeta!” – he addressed a message to the Albanian community (July 23, 2004) in which he said he was proud to receive support from Albanians, promised to takcle the final status of Kosovo immediately, and attacked the Bush administration for “turning its back” on the region:
“The people of Kosovo must be able to determine their own future, including how they want to be governed … Continued delay – which is all the Bush administration has offered – hardens the positions of extremists on all sides… I will need your help in building the support we will need in Congress and with the American people to carry out this historic task… I am proud that we will, together, help make real the dream of Albanians, of Americans, of our allies.”
Last May Richard Holbrooke organized a dinner meeting with Albanian-Americans in New York to raise funds and secure Albanian-American votes for Kerry. It was attended by Madeleine Albright, Wesley Clark, James Rubin, and Rep. Eliott Engel (D-NY). They all expressed commitment to the independence of Kosovo. Two months later the KLA chief Hashim Thaci was invited to the Democratic National Convention – which in itself was scandalous – and on his return to Pristina declared: “It was confirmed once again that a Democratic administration would recognize and respect the will of the people of Kosova [sic!] for self-determination.”
It is to be feared that an incoming Kerry regime will seek to “finish the job” in the Balkans by dismembering Serbia, recognizing Kosovo’s “independence”, encouraging Montenegro’s secession, destroying Republika Srpska, and “internationalizing” the crisis (non-existant for now, but certain to be duly procured) in Vojvodina and the Sanjak.
In short, a Kerry administration would pursue policies that would be destablizing to peace and stability in the Balkans, catastrophic to the interests of the Serbian nation, deeply detrimental to the reputation of the United States, and contrary to all American ideals. We therefore ask you to support President George W. Bush.
FOR AND ON BEHALF OF THE SERBIAN-AMERICAN VOTERS’ LEAGUE:
Dr. Srdja Trifkovic
Author and journalist
Highland Park, IL
Slavko Panovic, President
Serbian National Defense
Chicago, IL
Branko Tupanjac
Enterpreneur
Lake Forest, IL
Dr Jasmina Vujic
Professor of Nuclear Engineering
Berkeley, CA
Lou Milicich
Attorney at Law
Chicago, IL
Michael Mennard. Ph.D.
Foreign Service Officer, Ret.
Washington D.C.
Robert A. Jakovich, CFO
Orbit Industries, Inc
Middleburg Hts, OH
Alexandar D. Malich
Attorney at Law
Pittsburgh, PA
Professor Dragoslav Djordjevic
Monterey, CA
Bill Anderson, Executive VP
DMS Pharmaceutical Group, Inc.
Park Ridge, IL
Mark Brnovich, Atty at Law
Public Policy Researcher
Phoenix, AZ
Bosko Jovanovic, VP Operations
Nordic Foods Inc.
Kansas City KS
Mirko Sikirica, PharmD
Senior Clinical Analyst
Philadelphia PA
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a very good report.