United Nations – Croatia, the War, and the Future

Psychological Operations and Information Warfare Against Croatia and Croats – Part II

April 2, 2014 by inavukic 23 Comments

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Guest Post
By Ante Horvat

The drums of war began to sound again in Serbia following the SANU

Memorandum in 1986 following the death of the wartime and post-war criminal Josip Broz “Tito,” and this set a chain of events and actions by Serbia (and Milosevic’s Quislings in Croatia and B&H) resulting in the Homeland War in Croatia (the background and dynamics of which are covered in detail in this link). The prelude to the war and Western and international diplomatic, deep state, and media gatekeeper manipulation of the facts after war’s outbreak were outlined by Dr. Jerry Blaskovich.
Croatia at the onset of war was faced with:

a) No international support except passive Vatican, German, Austrian and Hungarian support

b) A hostile United Nations Security Council that forced the immoral arms embargo through, and

c) A hostile right-wing (anti-Catholic) and left-wing (Socialist, Marxist and neo-Marxist) media as well as a Western mainstream media that was slavishly repeating Belgrade’s talking points as most journalists were not on the front lines, but in Belgrade being fed misinformation by Yugoslav People’s Army media officers, and Western diplomatic corps determined to keep Yugoslavia together.

The psychological and information war against Croatia took a new dimension during the conflict. In addition to blatant UN compromises with Milosevic’s Quislings, the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia provided a new means of attack for Serbia – reversing the (at least post-Markale massacre, bad press) tactical and strategic defeats at the hands of President Tudjman and Croatia’s police, military and intelligence through legal means, clouding the truth, chronological order of events, and facts by initiating investigations and premising cases on lies, manipulations and propaganda disseminated by Serbia’s intelligence, counterintelligence, military and state media.

This was coupled by massive financing by Western governments (and intelligence agencies) of the so-called non-governmental organizations, many times staffed by known Yugoslav regime sympathizers, collaborators and or intelligence agents, working with the UN, ICTY and international media by feeding them strategic propaganda, misinformation, disinformation, and outright lies and inventions – more or less, serving entirely as front groups with hidden salaries, donors, financial spending, and agendas.
The mere fact that Milosevic’s rise – and his and Serbia’s systematic violation of the SFRJ 1974 Constitution (Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia/SFRY), neo-Apartheid rule over Kosovo, and not entirely clandestine illegal arming of Serbian terrorists and paramilitaries in Croatia a full year before HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) was balloted to power and following suit in B&H as early as 1989 – was covered blithely, the illegal arming campaign not at all, with Milosevic even being hailed as a reformer in English-speaking media, demonstrates who and what the press, and governments of said outlets, were supporting in the fmr. Yugoslavia.
As Milosevic rose to power, he consolidated control of Serbia’s media. The media narratives that Milosevic’s media were repeating became staples of frames of reference Western and international media coverage. Rare, if at all, were Ustasha crimes (and the hyper-inflation of those crimes) committed during WWII absent from any coverage of Croatia 1989 – 1995. Meanwhile, the crimes of the proto-fascist Karadjordjevic regime, the genocide of Croats by Chetniks in WWII (as well as Tito’s genocide of Croats after WWII), and the systematic political disenfranchisement and discrimination against Croats, as well as the state-sponsored terrorism against them inside and outside of Tito’s “multi-ethnic Yugoslavia,” were almost never mentioned in any serious newspaper or television report the duration of the conflict in the West as context yet Jasenovac and real and imagined Ustasha crimes were almost a mandatory frame of reference and backgrounder.
The consistent diplomatic double-speak and equivocations by Western governments, diplomats and the UN and international organizations were not a coincidence – but a consistent policy that mirrored that which the SANU Memorandum II would reiterate years later, which was during the 1990s, through to today, regurgitated by mainstream media in said Western states, as well as their non-governmental organization (NGO) front organizations at home (which are always tied directly to said governments and political and economic elite power structures), in Croatia and its immediate neighboring states. Namely, the discredited canards of “ancient ethnic hatreds,” “warring sides” (and not naked Serbian aggression), and “all sides committing atrocities.”
The time-line and chronology of the so-called Yugoslav crisis in the late 1980s and through the democratic changes, and ultimately, war, were skewed entirely – not just by the parade of the obviously shameless Western government officials, diplomats and UN officials in massive conflicts of interest, like Lawrence Eagleburger, Brent Scowcroft, James Baker III, and General Lewis MacKenzie; nor by the at best lazy journalists who rarely ventured outside of Belgrade’s lavish hotels and Milosevic government and Yugoslav People’s Army press corps untruthful propaganda séances mislabeled as “news briefs,” but by the NGOs and the individuals and organizations that they subsidized, who these government officials, diplomats and journalists would in return cite as if they were independent actors and not controlled and subsidized actors with a foreign state-policy pushing agenda – with the goal of changing perceptions from the facts, to certain false, or at best partially true narratives suppressing important evidence that debunks the premise of the new narrative, with the explicit purpose of achieving political (and in a time of war, by default, military) objectives.
The enduring global reach of Milosevic’s propaganda, and the frequency of repetition of the propaganda points during and since the war – and the deafening silence by governments, NGOs and so-called liberal and progressive Croatian journalists – shows that despite the seminal study “Political Propaganda and the Plan to Create ‘A State For All Serbs:’ Consequences of using media for ultra-nationalist ends” by Professor Renaud de la Brosse, which was submitted into evidence at the Milosevic ICTY trial (i), the propaganda techniques and messages he debunked were, and remain, somewhat still widely accepted outside of Serbia (where they are holier than the Bible), but also in Croatia.

The reason is the perpetual repetition of those myths by nontransparent foreign and foreign subsidized NGOs and their media collaborators, along with foreign governments (and their media operatives and the NGOs they finance) working with or outright hiring former regime members and political and intelligence operatives.

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Reference/source notes:

(i) The five-parts are no longer available in PDF format as they were up to at least a year ago, but readers are redirected to http://hrp.bard.edu/slobodan-milosevic-trial-public-archive/.

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Nest Post: Psychological Operations and Information Warfare Against Croatia – Part III: “Wartime Foreign Information Warfare against Croatia, Croats and the Truth”

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About the author: Ante Horvat was born in the USA in 1970′s. He has recently moved to live permanently in Croatia and although spending most of his life in the USA he had made several temporary residence visits to Croatia during that time. His education and professional development in history and international relations also spans across the two continents. He is an active observer of and participant in the development of democracy in Croatia since the early 1990’s and its correlation with the developed Western democracies.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: anti-Croatian propaganda, Bleiburg, Brent Scowcroft, C. Michael McAdams, Chetniks, Communist Yugoslavia, Croatia, Croatian Homeland War, Davor Domazet Loso, gatekeeping, General Lewis MacKenzie, Greater Serbia, ICTY, Ilija Garasanin, information warfare, James Baker III, Jasenovac, Jerry Blaskovich, Josip Broz Tito, Karadjordjevic, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, Lawrence Eagleburger, Miroslav Tudjman, Philip J. Cohen, psychological operations, Renaud de la Brosse, SANU, SANU Memorandum II, Serbia, Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, SFRY, United Nations, Ustasha

Croatia: 21 Years a Member State of the United Nations

May 22, 2013 by inavukic 11 Comments

dr Franjo Tudjman at UN on 22 May 1992

Today, 22 May 1992, dr Franjo Tudjman delivered his speech at the United Nations, ushering Croatia into the world of free, sovereign, independent and democratic states. Here is the speech he delivered in New York on that day, which I have translated into English. Source: http://www.tudjman.hr

Dr. Franjo Tudjman
Speech on the occasion of Croatia being accepted into the United Nations membership
United Nations, New York City, May 22, 1992
Mr President
Your Excellences
Ladies and Gentlemen

In the entirety of the history of development and of international position of one nation there can be no event more important than the recognition of its independence and sovereignty, and its admission into the world’s community of equal and independent states such as the Organization of United Nations. In line of this, allow me to express on behalf of the Croatian people our deepest gratitude for receiving us into the OUN:
–   to the Secretary General Mr. Boutros Boutros Ghali;
–   to the President of the Security Council, Mr Peter Hohenfellner and to all its members who, in Resolution 753 (1992), had unanimously recommended that the Republic of Croatia be accepted into the UN membership;
–   and finally, and especially to the President of this 46th sitting of the General Assembly, Mr. Samir S. Shihabi, and to all participants of this plenary session who, with today’s decision regarding the acceptance of the Republic of Croatia into membership, have shown honor and trust that Croatia has unquestionably deserved and will endeavor to justify, completely.
Excellency,
respected representatives of the free countries of the world!
With today’s day Croatia has gained her international legitimacy. Her flag, which is a sanctity to every Croatian man due to the fact that he had been judged and chased into foreign lands because of it, will flutter freely, from now on, in front of the OUN building, and everywhere in the world, with the dedication of international recognition.
The Croatian nation is one of the oldest people of today’s Europe. It possesses written documents and stamps of its national statehood independence, as well as of belonging to the Western European civilization, from the Seventh century (A.D.) onwards, in stone and on parchments, in literature and the arts, and what is most important, in its spiritual being. The Croatian nation can be proud of its contribution to the spiritual and real cultural heritage of mankind. Incidentally, it is not by chance that a small part of it is also present here. The entrance through which we pass into the United Nations General Assembly hall is made of Marble from the Croatian island of Brac. That stone in my country symbolizes Croatian survival. In it, during many centuries, the greatest of Croatian sculptors have reflected themselves, including Antun Augustincic whose equestrian figure, “Monument of Peace”, is found in the park behind this very United Nations’ building.

From the Tenth to the Twelfth centuries Croatians had their own independent kingdom, ruled by their own nationals. Historical changes and the unenviable geopolitical position of their country – at crossroad between the Western and Eastern Europe civilizations – had caused that after that, from the Twelfth to the Twentieth centuries (to 1918), they exist in togetherness with the Hungarian and the Hapsburg crown. However, Croatian people had preserved their identity during that time as well as in the later Yugoslav multi-national state community – which is especially evidenced by the glorious Republic of Dubrovnik – incessantly aspiring towards full independence and sovereignty. That highest of goals, realization of which is in the yearning of all national beings from the moment when, in its development, it reaches a degree of special national, political-cultural resoluteness, and when the international circumstances permit, Croatian nation – as many other smaller nations – has realized that goal today. That is, to say, a time in which mankind, due to scientific-technological (creative, but also destructive) omnipotence, experiences the relatively highest degree of civilization integration (cultural, economic, technical, trade, informational), but also the free and national individualization. With the permeation of these, in essence opposite tendencies, mankind aspires towards creating a unique global community of regulated international order of independent sovereign states, which have arisen from the generally accepted principles regarding the right of people to self-determination and freedom.

However, Croatian nation did not achieve its independence and sovereignty in the context of these general tendencies only, but also under the especially difficult circumstances of the breakup of the totalitarian Socialist system in Europe and the disintegration of the multi-national Yugoslav state community. After establishing its democratic order and proclaiming independence on the basis of plebiscitary expression of the will of the people, Croatia had to endure hard losses to preserve its sovereignty. The Yugo-Communist army and Serb imperialism for the restoration of Communism and conquest of Croatian regions war was imposed upon Croatia. In that war, during which Croatian people found themselves barehanded in comparison to the technically superior armed Yugoslav Army, Croatia has, by defending its freedom and democracy, gained even international recognition on the way to membership in OSCE and UNO. That war, however, has not entirely ended, especially because those who had caused it have spread it to the neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina despite the engagement by the EU and the UN Security Council.

The consequences of that barbaric war, at the end of the Twentieth century, are horrific. Some thirty thousand people in Croatia have been killed or wounded, mainly civilian people and many settlements and whole towns have been completely destroyed, several hundreds of historical monuments, industrial, church, health and educational objects have been annihilated. The dimensions of the suffering of the civilian population in this war of aggression against Croatia are evident in the fact that more than six hundred thousand people, helpless elderly and children, in Croatia, have been forcefully deported or have fled their homes. In addition to this, about a quarter of one million people are those who had fled Bosnia and Herzegovina into Croatia.

Accommodating the needs of the displaced and the refugees is beyond Croatia’s capability, which has been exhausted by the war. Hundreds of thousands of people await the assistance of the international community. Besides that, Croatia appeals to the highest bodies of international organizations to undertake, together with the EU and the OSCE, more decisive and more effective steps towards an immediate ending of the war in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, for the establishment of peace and a stable international order in this part of the world.

Execellency,
Ladies and Gentlemen!

The membership in the United Nations is the crown of international confirmation of the sovereign statehood of the Republic of Croatia. In light of that, we are deeply conscious of the responsibility we take upon ourselves with that membership. It is my honor to solemnly state, in this place, that the Republic of Croatia accepts the United Nations Charter in its entirety, and that it will be devoted to the principles of that Charter and the rule of international law, on the basis of which Croatia has won its international recognition. From now on, Croatia, as a full member of the United Nations, will be able to enjoy greater support from the world organization in its efforts for a peaceful solution to the crisis on the territory of the former Yugoslavia based on the Charter’s principles, for the success of the United Nations Peace Forces, for the resolution of the aforementioned refugee problems, for the stimulation of economic development. The Republic of Croatia accepts the principle according to which the international community has the right to mediate in cases of breaches of basic human rights and ethnic rights, threatening the peace, or ecological stability of our planet.

As for the solution to the Yugoslav crisis and relations between the states rising from the ground of former Yugoslavia, Croatia has accepted the final documents of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe, but also the principles upon which The Brussels Peace Conference acts. All that clearly says that the Republic of Croatia wishes to be loyal to the principles upon which the Charter is based, and to the principles of peace, justice and international cooperation without any discrimination. Croatia wishes to be an effective factor of the modern international order that is built on the generally accepted principles of anti-Fascism and democracy.

The Croatian people have, themselves, given a significant contribution to the battles against Nazi-fascism during World War II, which had endangered the democratic order of Europe and the world. (I can proudly mention that I myself, as a young man, also participated in that war against fascism). As part of the former community of states Croatia had also contributed significantly to solving problems of independence of the Third World countries and their economic development. That had also served the strengthening of the role of the United Nations during the Cold War period.

Finally, Mr. President, ladies and gentlemen, I would like to highlight our firm determination to build the internationally recognized Republic of Croatia upon the principles of the open, democratic and free society. In the political and economic sense we want Croatia to be a rule of law state and a free home to all its citizens. Croatia wants to be open for an all-encompassing cooperation with all neighboring and other countries of Europe and the world. Croatia wants to be a backbone of peace and stability of the international order and a worthy member of the United Nations.
(Translated from the Croatian language by Ina Vukic, February 2013)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Croatia, Franjo Tudjman, United Nations

Pursuing UN objectivity – Stop Vuk Jeremic Steal What Rightfully Belongs to the Victims of War Crimes Worldwide

February 24, 2013 by inavukic 122 Comments

Vecernji List 24 February 2013

While only representatives of member countries of the United Nations (UN) – and not individual citizens – can make representations, put forth proposals etc. in the UN, at the end of the day every UN representative sitting there is there because ordinary citizens, like you or I, have voted at general elections in the countries we live in. Hence, you and I have an absolute right and responsibility to become involved with the work of the UN, albeit through the will of our parliamentarians.

For some months now, we have been informed that the current President of UN General Assembly, Vuk Jeremic, a citizen of Serbia, is planning on convening a thematic debate in the UN, on 10 April 2013, on the “Role of International Criminal Justice on Reconciliation”. Last week he has published a communiqué on the event (Please click on this link to read the communiqué and details for the debate).

In the Concept Note attached to Jeremic’s communiqué, he states: “we must be vigilant to ensure that international criminal justice serves in the best way its purpose. Operate within a neutral and impartial framework, and achieve its goals in a sustainable manner”.

While I personally believe that such a debate is a positive thing, especially because it seems that it will encompass (if not directly then indirectly) justice delivered through the tribunals regarding all countries that have been involved with UN International Tribunals of some kind, in the period after Nuremberg trials post-WWII (e.g. Cambodia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, East Timor, Lebanon, Serbia, Sierra Leone, Rwanda…), indications are overwhelmingly against objectivity of such a debate if it puts forth at the lectern speakers who are not neutral and impartial in the issue of the debate. Jeremic himself, a citizen of Serbia, speaks of “neutrality and impartiality” and yet he has shown no human decency to distance himself from leading this debate. Furthermore reconciliation and issues around it are set to be a focal point of the debate. Given all this, justice for humanity would tell us that victims of those horrid crimes are the ones who factor most highly in whether justice of the tribunals has or will steer reconciliation, and how.

Hence, as a subscriber to democracy and complete justice I was personally horrified in finding out that this UN debate will be convened, with the opening address delivered by a citizen of one of the countries involved with the very war crimes before the International Criminal Tribunal, Vuk Jeremic from Serbia. My horror had deepened to an even more unimaginable and insufferable level when I read in the media recently (from Serbia) that Serbia’s President Tomislav Nikolic (who was personally involved in Serbia’s politics of aggression and ethnic cleansing during early 1990’s on the territory of the Former Yugoslavia) is under consideration to deliver a keynote speech at the debate.

My horror does not arise from any strong feelings I may, or may not have regarding the war in Croatia and the fact that the International Criminal Tribunal has already convicted Serbs of joint criminal enterprise against Croatian civilians, people and property. My feelings of horror arise from the fact that, even today, in the 21st century, the UN does not seem capable of organising such an important debate in a completely objective manner, ensuring that any role played during the debate (e.g. keynote speaking, opening statements) does not contaminate the victims’ rights to real and perceived objectivity. Indeed, the only way this can be achieved is to ensure that representatives of the countries where war crimes had occurred do not stand at the lectern and keynote speak to the participants. They can certainly participate in debates, as any other country can.

In my opinion, and I am certain in the opinion of many, the UN should appoint an independent coordinator and group (representatives from countries untainted by the very crimes and justice the debate is addressing) to facilitate and keynote speak for this event.

So, what do we do as citizens of the world? We quick smart write to our Prime Ministers, Presidents …the Opposition Leaders, or our local Member of Parliament or Congressman/Congresswoman… and ask that your country takes up the issue with the UN in ensuring the debate on 10 April 2013 is completely objective and, above all, fair to the multitudes of victims across the world whose wounds would undoubtedly be split wide open the instant a keynote speech or opening addresses are uttered by representatives from “involved-in-crime” countries.

There is no successful or long lasting reconciliation like the one that puts the rights and the feelings of victims up front.

I have personally written to the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition in Australia such a letter. The more people write the better – wherever you are. So get going please, write your letter. Please contact me if you need to see a sample letter.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover today that Croatian journalist Jadranka Juresko-Kero had written an article about my letter to the Australian Prime Minister and Leader of the Opposition and that Vecernji List newspaper has published an article on these efforts of mine to ensure complete respect of victims of war crimes through the UN debate.

It is through such personal actions, by writing to our governments, that we may make a positive and meaningful difference in the lives and rights of victims of war crimes. To evidence this I am at this moment unpleasantly reminded of the Serbian Orthodox New Year concert at the UN General Assembly, beginning of January 2013, when Vuk Jeremic, served upon the UN a diplomatic prank that offended so many victims of the 1990’s war in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The performance in the UN hall of the Serbian song “March on Drina”, which Serb aggressors hummed and chanted and sang as they went about killing innocent people and ethnically cleansing non-Serb population during 1990’s would have remained just a performance for entertainment had groups and organisations representing the victims not reacted immediately. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon had no option but to apologise and express regret to the victims.

But the apology and the regret came too late. The victims had already been wounded. Let’s not allow a similar thing happening again at the very altar of human justice and humanity – at the UN, on 10th April.

As far as Croatia’s participation in this debate is concerned, it would seem that there are two main strands of opinion at this stage and in the corridors of political echelons. One strand of thought is that the event be ignored in certain ways and to act, in parallel, with the so-called quiet diplomacy because “the loser has the right to feel angry, nothing else remains for him/her and Croatia has won in the ICTY, Hague”. The other strand of thought is to be “loud”, that is, that Croatia sends an important or high-ranking politician such as the Minister of Justice, of Foreign Affairs or a President’s envoy who would, alongside other representatives of Croatian diplomacy, deliver the message to the UN that Croatia is a country which has cooperated with the work of the International Criminal Tribunal and throughout its court processes and that it has confirmed its innocence as well as the innocence of Croatian Generals, who had endured a very long Hague Calvary.

After the Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac returned home to Croatia (16 November 2012) from The Hague, free and acquitted of war crimes including joint criminal enterprise, Vuk Jeremic began “threatening”, from his UN position as President of UN General Assembly, that he was embittered by the ICTY verdict and that he would call for a meeting where “the truth will emerge”. There is no doubt in my mind that with such a style of manipulation Jeremic wanted to send a message to Serbia and to the Serbian diaspora that he has used his influence and position in the UN to initiate a meeting with the “symbolic” date of 10th April. Of course, knowing that 10th April (1941) is the date that signifies the founding of the World War II Independent State of Croatia – there is no doubt that Jeremic has once again “pulled a dirty” on the UN and its member states, just as he did at the Orthodox New Year’s concert.

Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Lebanon, Cambodia, Rwanda … all should enter this debate in the UN on equal footing and that can only be achieved that no keynote speakers, no opening or otherwise formally pivotal speakers come from any of these countries.
“The debate will remain as an official documentary record for those who will write the history tomorrow. That is why that debate is important and why it is good that Serbia has found itself at this time in the function of presiding over the General Assembly and, hence, gained an opportunity to reply to that which has de facto been messaged to it by the decisions of the ICTY Appeal Chambers – and that is, that only one guilty side exists, and only one criminal side and that that side is Serbian”, said Vuk Jeremic to journalists in the UN.

Why the UN even permits Jeremic to advocate primarily for his country’s interests at the UN general debate, which will encompass several countries on issues of reconciliation and International Criminal Tribunal justice, is mind-boggling and profoundly distressing.
Surely, there are member states of the UN that can prevent such travesty of UN global interest and role in the issues to be debated! But I honestly believe that the receipt of letters from their own citizens will help further the cause – so, grab your pen, keyboard … write that letter this week! Ina Vukic, Prof. (Zgb); B.A., M.A.Ps. (Syd)