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June 10, 1999

Farce follows tragedy

General Wesley Clark - mass murderer (Waco), war
criminal (Yugoslavia), Rhodes scholar and
Arkansas native - changed the Kosovo deployment plans
at the last minute to make sure US troops got there
first for the television cameras. While Clark diddled,
Yugoslavian ally Russia stole a march on NATO troops
and is now in the process of securing territory to
protect Serbian civilians against what happened to
them the last time NATO "protected" them after a US
engineered takeover.

The Russian army is probably the only thing preventing
another NATO supported mass dislocation and slaughter
of Serbian civilians such as the one that occured in
Croatia earlier in this decade.

There are still 500,000 Serbian refugees from the US
adventure in Croatia. Those are the lucky ones the
CIA/Pentagon coached Croatian military didn't slaughter.

Here's the latest news straight from the wire services.
No time for a Pentagon spin. For once, some
fairly straight reporting on the situation
as it unfolds. It should be an interesting weekend.

****************************************************

British troops' entry into Kosovo delayed by US

LONDON, June 11 (AFP) - The entry of British troops into Kosovo
at the head of the NATO-led peacekeeping force was delayed at
Washington's insistence, to allow US troops to go in first, British
media reports said Friday.

British paratroopers and Gurhkas were ready to move across the
Macedonian border at dawn on Friday, but were ordered to stand
down only a few hours before, as an order came from Washington
putting the operation on hold for 24 hours, it was reported.

Sky Television's correspondent on the Macedonian border said
that there was "considerable anger among British officers" at
what was seen as an attempt by the United States to claim the
glory of being the first to enter Kosovo.

On Friday, the situation suddenly changed as the unexpected push
by Russian peacekeepers into Serbia towards Kosovo prompted
British troops to begin moving towards the Kosovo border.

According to a journalist from the Daily Mail, providing pool
copy for the British media, the United States had demanded the
delay to allow them to fly in 2,000 Marines by helicopter from
US warships in the Adriatic.

The original order of march called for the British, supported
by the Germans and the French on the flanks, to push north from
Macedonia through the mountain passes and secure the high plateau
beyond.

But under a new plan, US troops were also to be rushed to
Gnjilane in eastern Kosovo, with arrangements to ensure that
"all the American television networks will be there to record
this glorious victory for America's fighting spirit," the Daily
Mail correspondent said.

Another correspondent, from the London Evening Standard, said
the British and French felt that Washington had tried to turn
the KFOR operation "into an American media circus."

Editor's note: No honor among thieves I guess.

================================================================

MEANWHILE, while General Clark waits for the television cameras
to get set up, Russian troops leave US troops flat footed.


Russia, NATO Advance In Race Toward Kosovo

By Deborah Charles

BELGRADE (Reuters) - NATO and Russian forces swept toward
Kosovo Friday in a race to enter the ravaged province as
Serbian troops retreated.

Russian peacekeepers crossed the border from Bosnia into
Yugoslavia and headed toward Kosovo in a move that caught
the West by surprise.

NATO sources said the alliance had begun its own deployment
to Kosovo but could not immediately say if its troops had
already entered.

``A few hours ago they were on their way to the border,'' a
NATO source told Reuters.

Some 50 Russian vehicles, including 20 to 30 armoured personnel
carriers, crossed into  Serbia from Bosnia and by early afternoon
had passed Belgrade en route for Kosovo. The United States said
Moscow had given assurances that the troops would not enter the
Serbian province unilaterally.

NATO said it was seeking to find out what orders the troops had
been given. ``Their future intentions are not clear to us,'' an
alliance source told Reuters.

The surprise Russian move came against a background of stalled
negotiations over Moscow's role in an international
peacekeeping force to enable the return of hundreds of
thousands of ethnic Albanian refugees.

A Russian general said Moscow wanted control over Serb-populated
parts of northern Kosovo, with or without NATO's blessing.

``We will not beg, give us this little piece,'' General Leonid
Ivashov said, adding that Moscow was prepared to negotiate its
own sector directly with Belgrade if necessary.