CANCER COUNCIL CAUTIONS AGAINST "SUN GAZING" THERAPY

TEAM UZUNOV medical exclusive 

by Sasha Uzunov

Cancer Council Australia has cautioned against the use of a "sun gazing" therapy advocated by a Balkan health guru, which has gained popularity amongst some of this country's ethnic communities.

Dr Slagjana Velkova (Sladjana Velkov) is a Macedonian born but Serbian raised doctor of medicine who is advocating a radical sun gazing therapy for improved health.

She has appeared on Australia's government funded Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) Radio, namely the Macedonian and Serbian language programs.

Her therapy is as follows:

Sungaze 1 times a day within an hour after sunrise or in last hour before sunset. 

Stand erect with bare feet on bare ground. Remove glasses. You can blink. Begin with 10 seconds. Increase 10 seconds a day. If cloudy, sungaze but don’t increase time. When cold, do it indoors through an open window. If ill, affirm and visualize sunlight going to problem area. Express gratitude. After sungazing, rub hands together and cover eyes. Gaze at afte rimage till gone. After or before sungazing, walk barefoot for 45 minutes (preferably). When you reach 44 minutes of sungazing, reduce time 1 min/day to 15 min and stay there for one year. If desired, continue the rest of your life.

*Take a sunbath at least 1 h daily (expose skin).
*Put water in transparent bottle on the sun for a few hours and drink it.

The response from the Cancer Council of Australia's Media Manager Hollie Jenkins:

"... we are not aware of any scientific evidence that 'sunlight treatment' as advocated...offers any health benefits. Furthermore, many of the recommendations, for instance exposing yourself to excessive sunlight and staring at the sun, may actually be harmful.

"Two in three Australians will be diagnosed with skin cancer by the time they are 70 and more than 2000 Australians died from skin cancer in 2011. Cancer Council Australia recommends Australians manage their sun exposure, when UV levels are 3 or above, to minimise their cancer risk."

The CCA also recommends:

"Slip on some sun-protective clothing – that covers as much skin as possible;
Slop on broad spectrum, water resistant SPF30+ or higher sunscreen. Put it on 20 minutes before you go outdoors and every two hours afterwards. Sunscreen should never be used to extend the time you spend in the sun.
Slap on a hat – that protects your face, head, neck and ears
Seek shade
Slide on some sunglasses – make sure they meet Australian Standards."

MURDOCH, MORAN AND BOSTON MARATHON BOMBS

Photos: Top left: Rupert Murdoch media mogul (World Economic Forum-Davos). Top Right: Paul Moran, ABC cameraman killed in Iraq in 2003. Boston Marathon Bombings courtesy of  Aaron "tango" Tango - Wikipedia /Flicker 

MURDOCH, MORAN AND BOSTON MARATHON BOMBS

by Sasha Uzunov

To some of us, who are not part of Australia's journalism in-club or clique, we are left to reach the conclusion that the Murdoch media (News Limited) can never please our country's self appointed cultural elite, who largely form the natural constituency of the ABC, SBS and Fairfax media groups, when it comes to reporting on the war on terror.

Two events connected to global terrorism show how News Limited is damned by our 'social betters' no matter what and, moreover, who in our country has a right to "freedom of speech." The two events are this month's Boston Marathon Bombings and last month the tenth anniversary of the killing of Australian cameraman Paul Moran by a terrorist bomb in Iraq.

The identity of the perpetrators of Boston Marathon bombings on 15 April 2013 was first met with caution by some in the media.

However, when the religion, Islam, of the two accused was revealed all hell erupted when News Limited's popular conservative columnist and blogger Andrew Bolt condemned The Age  (Fairfax Melbourne newspaper):

"In fact, even after brothers Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev were identified and found to be - surprise! - Muslim, some still pretended not to notice or think it relevant.

'Muslim? Really? What an amazing coincidence.

'Probably meaningless.

'So in the more than 6000 words filed by The Age on its live coverage thread by 8.30am on Saturday, the word “Muslim” was used just once: “The brothers are Muslims believed to be of Chechen origin, but there is still no clear motive for the attack.”

'Uh huh."

Tim Blair of the Sydney Murdoch newspaper The Daily Telegraph took a sarcastic swipe at Australian Muslim intellectual Waleed Ally who wrote a piece in the Fairfax papers, as well as firing a broadside at the ABC's Jonathan Green.

Ok, most of you would be familiar with Bolt and Blair's anti-leftist shtick; that it's par for the course and according to our 'cultural elite' would be playing to the Murdoch right wing script.

But last month, was the tenth anniversary of the killing of controversial ABC cameraman Paul Moran. Colleague Eric Campbell, writing in the Walkley Magazine, Issue 75, April-June 2013, the official trade union publication of Australia's The Media Entertainment & Arts Alliance (Journalism section), expressed his disappointment at "still no justice for Paul Moran."

For the record TEAM UZUNOV is a proud paid up of member of the MEAA.

The MEAA released the following statement on its website on 22 March 2013:

The Media, Entertainment & Arts Alliance remembers Australian Broadcasting Corporation cameraman Paul Moran who was murdered by a suicide car bomb 10 years ago today while on assignment in Northern Iraq at the start of the 2003 invasion.

 Paul, 39, had been filming a story with ABC correspondent Eric Campbell on Kurdish "peshmerga" guerrilla fighters in the village of Sayed Sadiq. He was filming some final images of a group of fighters when a car drove up next to the group, stopped and exploded, killing Paul instantly.

Iraqi terrorist group Ansar al Islam claimed responsibility for the attack. The group’s founder, Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, also known as Mullah Krekar ordered the attack that killed Paul.

Krekar had lived in Norway as a refugee since 1991. In 2007 he openly taunted the Australian Government to come and get him.

Krekar is currently in prison in Norway on four counts of intimidation under aggravating circumstances and is due to be released in 2015. The Media Alliance continues to campaign for the extradition of Krekar from Norway to face possible war crimes charges under section 115 of the Criminal Code 1995 (Harming Australians).

TEAM UZUNOV has previously gone into enormous detail as to how well respected and award winning journalist Colin James of the Murdoch newspaper The Adelaide Advertiser went "off script" and began to investigate Moran's working background and connection to United States military and intelligence circles. 

Surprisingly, James hit a wall at the ABC and those at Fairfax and SBS took some initial interest but then buried the story. You would think that our 'cultural elite' would have rejoiced at James examining the 'Great Satan' (America) and its murky involvement in the second Iraq War. But even the great John Pilger, who has made a fortune out of his anti-US imperialist shtick, has not even written a book or made a documentary on Moran.

Here were we republish the TEAM UZUNOV article, run on Online Opinion website

Wilkie or Wilkie not ask for an ABC inquiry?

by Sasha Uzunov - 14 September 2010.

Ex-Australian Army officer turned independent politician Andrew Wilkie is regarded as a brave man who resigned as an intelligence analyst over the 2003 Iraq War. He is now in a unique position as a member of the newly formed ALP-Green-Independents-federal coalition government to call for an inquiry into the controversial ABC TV camera man Paul Moran who was killed in Iraq.

Wilkie resigned as an analyst with the Office of National Assessment (ONA), an intelligence organisation that directly services Australia’s Prime Minister, disagreeing with claims made by the then Howard government about Iraq’s Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD) and the reasons for going to war.

One of those killed in that war was Paul Moran, who helped to publicise the WMD story, which we now know was a complete fabrication. Wilkie has the opportunity to press for a parliamentary inquiry into the ABC’s employment of Moran and possible conflict of interest.

Moran, 39, was killed on March 22, 2003 by a car bomb while covering the war in Northern Iraq for the tax payer funded Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC TV). He was an Adelaide-raised freelance cameraman who worked on and off for the ABC as well as US public relations firm Rendon, which had ties to the CIA and the Bush Administration.

Walkely Award winning Australian journalist, Mr Colin James, of the Adelaide Advertiser newspaper, was the first to break the story about Moran’s shadowy past when he attended Moran’s wake in Adelaide.

He talked to relatives who revealed that Moran had a James Bond other life.

“For a freelance cameraman, Moran sure had some incredible access to US State Department officials in Washington,” Mr James said. “How many freelancers get to play games of social tennis with US diplomats?”

Moran had worked for Rendon for more than a decade in places like the Middle East and Kosovo, pushing US government spin while doing freelance work for the ABC TV as a combat cameraman.

On November 17, 2005 prominent American journalist, academic and former US Navy intelligence analyst James Bamford wrote in the influential American magazine Rolling Stone a detailed account of Moran’s work with Rendon and its link to the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and its selling of the Iraq War to the American public.

The controversy surrounding Moran stems from his exclusive story about an Iraqi defector who had knowledge about Saddam's weapons of mass destruction program. A Rendon colleague gave him the scoop which turned out to be false, but was a pretext for the US invasion of Iraq, according to Bamford.

The Australian cameraman also helped to set up a television station for the Iraqi National Congress (INC). The INC was established by the US as an opposition group to the Saddam Hussein regime.

In 2006 the then ABC’s Managing Director, Mr Russell Balding, was approached and asked if he would launch an internal inquiry into the Moran allegations. Mr Shane Wells, his spokesman, said there would be no comment. The Moran story remains a hot potato.

Feisty, tough Maltese-Australian journalist, Monica Attard, host of the ABC’s Media Watch, dared to criticise then ABC TV news boss Max Uechtritz in his refusal to answer questions about Moran.

The story was followed up by some parts of the media, but not by the ABC. It should have been. ("Death in Baghdad",Media Watch, April 14, 2003.)

The irony of all this is Uechtritz, now with Al Jazeera network, complained to The Age newspaper on June 30, 2003 about freedom of speech after coming under attack from the then Communications Minister, Senator Richard Alston, for alleged biased reporting by the ABC over the Iraq war.

“It is the duty of independent journalists in a robust democracy to question everything,” Uechtritz wrote. “The senator seems to think the media's duty in time of war is to fall meekly into line with the government of the day.”

Uechtritz was contacted at his Al Jazeera email address for comment on Moran but after many months there has been no response.

Last year, Sally Neighbour, a self-appointed national security expert who was employed as an ABC reporter while working for The Australian a commercially owned newspaper, ran a story about Moran without any reference to the CIA allegations and quoted fellow ABC journalist Mark Corcoran, a hugely respected journalist and genuine media tough guy who previously served in the Royal Australian Navy and super secret Defence Signals Directorate.

Neighbour wrote:

"Why has there been no investigation into the murder?" asks Mark Corcoran, presenter and veteran reporter with ABC TV's Foreign Correspondent program. "As of December 2009, I have still not seen any evidence of an investigation, either formally or informally, by any Australian official."

Mr Chris Warren, the Federal Secretary of the Media Entertainment Alliance of Australia (Australian Journalists Association) has asked Australia's Federal Attorney-General to investigate Najmuddin Faraj Ahmad, better known as Mullah Krekar, and his links to UN-listed terrorist organisation Ansar al-Islam, as the mastermind who allegedly ordered the car bomb that killed Moran..

The Moran case has been linked by some ABC reporters to the highly emotive Balibo Five, Australian-based newsmen and crew killed by Indonesian troops during the 1975 takeover of East Timor. But the Balibo Five had no links to a foreign intelligence agency and launching a war crimes trial against Mullah Krekar could backfire.

It could open up a can of worms. Under the Geneva Convention, journalists in war zones are afforded some protection as non-combatants. However:

Article 29 - A person can only be considered a spy when, acting clandestinely or on false pretences, he obtains or endeavours to obtain information in the zone of operations of a belligerent with the intention of communicating it to the hostile party.

Thus, soldiers not wearing a disguise who have penetrated into the zone of operations of the hostile army, for the purpose of obtaining information, are not considered spies. Similarly, the following are not considered spies: soldiers and civilians carrying out their mission openly, entrusted with the delivery of despatches intended either for their own army or for the enemy's army. To this class belong likewise persons sent in balloons for the purpose of carrying despatches and, generally, of maintaining communications between the different parts of an army or a territory.

The definition of a spy given in this Article remains completely valid since the Geneva Convention contains no similar provision. However, a spy is also a protected person in so far as he conforms to the definition given in Article 4 of the Fourth Convention. Under Article 5 of the Convention, the spy may nevertheless be deprived temporarily of certain rights, particularly the right of communication.

Article 30 - A spy taken in the act shall not be punished without previous trial.

Moran was “killed in action” by a car bomb; he was neither surrendering nor was he captured. The next question is do we prosecute enemy combatants who have killed Australian soldiers during the heat of battle, ranging from the Boer War to the present Afghanistan conflict?

Should we now ask that the Vietnamese communist government hand over the Viet Cong guerrillas and hard core NVA soldiers for prosecution over the 18 Australian soldiers killed in action during the legendary Battle of Long Tan in 1966?

Furthermore, critics call the Iraq War launched by the United States in 2003 “illegal”. Wilkie resigned from ONA because of his opposition to that war. Assuming that the Iraq war is illegal, does Moran’s involvement in “selling” that war which has resulted in hundreds of thousands of Iraqis as well as US/Coalition troops being killed, constitute a crime?

Under the Nuremberg Principles established in the wake of Nazi War Crimes Trial of 1946, Principle VI states:

The crimes hereinafter set out are punishable as crimes under international law:

a)Crimes against peace:
(i) Planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances;
(ii) Participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the acts mentioned under (i).

If you believe that the Iraq War was justified, then Moran deserves to be honoured as a hero killed in action in the global war on terror; he should have been given a state funeral just like any other Australian soldier, police officer or intelligence operative killed in action in a warzone.

The irony is that if Eric Campbell, the ABC reporter who was wounded during the car bomb that killed Moran, had been the one killed, the case of a war crime for killing a journalist could be justified.

The Fairfax Press and SBS TV have been obsessed with the story of Australian Commandos involved in a botched raid that resulted in the unintentional killing of five Afghan civilians last year - but that is another story. Meanwhile, it would appear that Moran’s role in selling a war that has caused so much death and destruction has slipped under the radar. Attard was brave in airing on Media Watch the Moran story.

Wilkie has the power to call for an inquiry into Moran’s activities.

CARLOS THE JACKAL: guest of Yugoslavia

One of the most notorious international terrorists during the later stages of the Twentieth Century, Carlos the Jackal, spent three days in 1976 as a guest of Communist Yugoslavia, a defacto ally of the West, according to US diplomatic cables published in wikileaks.

Carlos, real name Ilich Ramirez, posed as an Algerian professor during his visit to Yugoslavia between September 6 to 9th, 1976.

The Yugoslav Interior Ministry had informed the West German authorities of Carlos' visit but then tried to backtack by saying it was a case of mistaken identity--it was not Carlos but a genuine Algerian professor.

The US diplomatic cable makes the wry observation that a large number SDB (UDBa - Yugoslav intelligence) Agents were at Belgrade airport.

Both the German and Amierican authorities, including the FBI, were no longer trusting of the Yugoslav  Interior Ministry.

In another US diplomatic cable, American analysts discuss Communist Yugoslavia's indulgence in conspiracy theories involving Washington's alleged attempt to destablise Yugoslavia. The US regarded Yugoslavia as a defacto ally during the Cold War because of its independent socialist orbit away from the Soviet Union.

www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976BELGRA06081_b.html

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 01        BELGRA 06081  161038Z

14

ACTION EUR-08

INFO  OCT-01  SS-14  ISO-00  SAJ-01  NSC-05  NSCE-00  SP-02  INR-05

CIAE-00  EB-03  L-01  PRS-01  IO-03  DODE-00  /044 W

---------------------     009590

P 160945Z SEP 76

FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE

TO SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8071

INFO AMEMBASSY BONN PRIORITY

AMEMBASSY LONDON PRIORITY

AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY

AMEMBASSY PARIS PRIORITY

AMEMBASSY ROME PRIORITY

USMISSION NATO PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE 6081

LIMDIS

E.O. 11652: GDS

TAGS: PFOR YO FR US PINS IT

SUBJ: CARLOS ISSUE

REF: (A) PARIS 26714, (B) ROME 14971

1. IN APPRAISING YUGOSLAV INTERPOL REPORT AND ZARIC'S

COMMENTS REFTEL (A), ADDRESSEES SHOULD KEEP IN MIND

THAT THE YUGOSLAVS THEMSELVES ADMITTED TO THE FRG EMBASSY

IN BELGRADE THAT CARLOS ARRIVED HERE SEPTEMBER 6. FURTHER,

THERE WERE LARGE NUMBER OF SDB AGENTS AT AIRPORT FOR

ARRIVAL SEPT 6 AND DEPARTURE SEPT 9, WHICH HARDLY

NECESSARY FOR "ALGERIAN TV TEAM" THAT IS STILL

SUPPOSED TO BE IN BELGRADE.

2. THE YUGOSLAV LINE NOW IS THAT IT WAS A CASE OF

MISTAKEN IDENTITY. BUT WE SHOULD NOT BEGIN TO HAVE

SELF-DOUBTS, AND SHOULD HOLD YUGOSLAVIA TO ACCOUNT

ON THE CARLOS MATTER IN ACCORDANCE WITH THEIR OWN

ADMISSIONS TO THE GERMANS.

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 02        BELGRA 06081  161038Z

3. BONN: BELIEVE BASED ON WHAT FRG EMBASSY HAS TOLD US

ABOUT TIMING AND DETAILED CONTENT OF CARLOS ARTICLE IN DER

SPEIGEL THAT FRG FOREIGN MINISTRY CHOSE NOT TO MAKE PUBLIC THE

BELGRADE CARLOS CAPER BUT SOMEONE IN BONN (PERHAPS INTERIOR

MINISTRY) HELD SPIEGEL PRESSES OPEN TO WAIT FOR INFORMATION

SENT BY GERMAN EMBASSY HERE LATE LAST FRIDAY (I.E., THE

"ALGERIAN PROFESSOR" COVER).

4. ROME: CARLOS WAS HERE SEPT 6-9 BUT WE HAVE NO

INFO RE USE US PASSPORTS. DEFER TO DEPARTMENT FOR

GUIDANCE RE INFO FOR TWA.

SILBERMAN

NNN

www.wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/1976BELGRA06271_b.html

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 01        BELGRA 06271  241204Z

13

ACTION EUR-12

INFO  OCT-01  ISO-00  FBIE-00  EB-07  SAJ-01  PM-04  NSC-05  SP-02

SS-15  INR-07  DODE-00  IO-13  L-03  PRS-01  /071 W

---------------------     092475

R 241115Z SEP 76

FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE

TO SECSTATE WASHDC 8168

INFO AMEMBASSY BONN

C O N F I D E N T I A L BELGRADE 6271

DEPT PLEASE PASS TO FBI

EO 11652 NA

TAGS: PFOR  YO  US  PINS

SUBJ: CARLOS

REF: (A) BELGRADE 6081, (B) BELGRADE 2671

1. COUNSELOR FRG EMBASSY TOLD ME EVENING SEPT 22 THAT

DER SPIEGEL LEAK ON CARLOS STORY HAD TO BE WORK OF VERY

SENIOR LEVEL IN FRG GOVERNMENT, PROBABLY FOREIGN MINISTRY,

REPEATING REASONS IN REF A.

2. HE FURTHER SAID FRG INTERIOR MINISTRY HAS "LEARNED

THEIR LESSON" CONCERNING COOPERATION WITH GOY INTERIOR

MINISTRY.

3. AS I INDICATED TO STATE DEPT REF B, I HAVE COME TO

CONCLUSION THAT FBI WAS INITIALLY CORRECT IN REFUSING

LIAISON WITH YUGOSLAV INTERIOR MINISTRY. GERMANS NOW

CONCLUDE IT IS A ONE-WAY STREET.

SILBERMAN

CONFIDENTIAL

NNN

--------------------------------------------------------------

In another US diplomatic cable, American analysts discuss Communist Yugoslavia's indulgence in conspiracy theories involving Washington's alleged attempt to destablise Yugoslavia.

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 01        BELGRA 08320  01 OF 03  221019Z

ACTION EUR-12

INFO  OCT-01  ISO-00  CIAE-00  DODE-00  PM-04  H-01  INR-07  L-03

NSAE-00  NSC-05  PA-01  PRS-01  SP-02  SS-15  USIA-06

TRSE-00  /058 W

---------------------     090833 /13

R 211555Z DEC 76

FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE

TO SECSTATE WASHDC 9038

INFO AMEMBASSY BUCHAREST

AMEMBASSY BUDAPEST

AMEMBASSY MOSCOW

USMISSION NATO

AMEMBASSY PRAGUE

AMEMBASSY ROME

AMEMBASSY SOFIA

AMEMBASSY WARSAW

AMCONSUL ZAGREB

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 1 OF 3 BELGRADE 8320

E.O. 11652: GDS

TAGS: PFOR, YO, US

SUBJECT: FRIEND OR FOE?: THE YUGOSLAV PERCEPTION OF THE UNITED

STATES

REF: BELGRADE 1725 (NOTAL)

1. SUMMARY: FROM AND AMERICAN STANDPOINT, THE MOST

IMPORTANT CHARACTERISTIC OF YUGOSLAVIA IS ITS RELATIVE

INDEPENDENCE FROM MOSCOW. AMERICANS CONCEIVE OF THEM-

SELVES AS ALLIES OF THE YUGOSLAVS IN MAINTAINING THAT

INDEPENDENCE. YUGOSLAVIA'S COMMUNIST ELITE, HOWEVER,

HAS A MUCH MORE COMPLEX ATTITUDE TOWARD THE U.S. IT IS

BASED ON MARXISM, NON-ALIGNMENT, ETHNOCENTRISM, BALKAN

PARANOIA AND A BLEND OF MISINFORMATION AND HARD FACTS.

YUGOSLAVIA'S LEADERS FEEL THREATENED NOT ONLY BY

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 02        BELGRA 08320  01 OF 03  221019Z

SOVIET IMPERIALISM, BUT ALSO BY WESTERN-INSPIRED

COUNTER-REVOLUTION AND WESTERN-BACKED NATIONALISM.

THEY VIEW THE UNITED STATES MORE AS FOE THAN FRIEND

AND TEND TO TAKE FOR GRANTED OUR CONTRIBUTION TO

THEIR SECURITY AND ECONOMIC WELL-BEING. A NUMBER OF

THEIR PERCEPTIONS ARE DISTORTED, STEMMING FROM THEIR OWN

IDEOLOGICIAL PRECONCEPTIONS. AT THE SAME TIME, THE

YUGOSLAV LEADERSHIP DOES NOT ERR IN SEEING US AS ADVERSARIES

ON A WIDE RANGE OF ISSUES AND WE MUST EXPECT A CONTINUATION

OF BASIC SUSPICION AND FRICTION FROM WHICH WE SHOULD NOT

RECOIL. END SUMMARY.

2. WHEN CROATIAN NATIONALIST HIJACKED A TWA PLANE IN

SEPTEMBER, STATEMENTS LIKE THESE WERE COMMON IN THE

CONTROLLED YUGOSLAV PRESS: --"(THE HIJACKING) REVEALS

AN UNDERGROUND PLOT BETWEEN MERCENARIES OF YUGOSLAV

ORIGIN AND INFLUENTIAL REACTIONARY MAGNATES ACROSS THE

ATLANTIC ...--(THE HIJACKERS) HAVE OBTAINED AN INFLUENTIAL

AND POWERFUL MASTER IN CERTAIN AMERICAN CIRCLES, WHICH

USE THEM AS THEIR WEAPON IN ACTION AGAINST SOCIALIST

AND NON-ALIGNED YUGOSLAVIA,--(THE HIJACKING) IS JUST

ONE IN A SERIES OF CAREFULLY PLANNED ANTI-YUGOSLAV ACTS

CONCEIVED IN CERTAIN VERY POWERFUL AND VERY INFLUENTIAL

CIRCLES."

3. SUCH ACCUSATIONS CLASH SO SEVERELY WITH OUR OWN IMAGE

OF THE UNITED STATES AND OF ITS ATTITUDE TOWARD

YUGOSLAVIA THAT WE MUST ASK HOW THEY COULD BE MADE. ARE

THE YUGOSLAVS TRYING TO FOSTER DOMESTIC UNITY BY CREATING

IMAGINARY DANGERS FROM ABROAD? ARE THEY TRYING TO "BALANCE"

THEIR OCCASIONALLY CONTENTIOUS STATEMENTS ABOUT THE

SOVIET UNION? OR DO THEY REALLY BELIEVE THAT "REACTIONARY

CIRCLES" IN THE U.S. ARE MOUNTING AN ANTI-YUGOSLAV CAM-

PAIGN, USING EMIGRE TERRORISTS AS ONE INSTRUMENT? SUCH

A VIEW OF AMERICAN BEHAVIOR IS USEFUL TO THE LEADERSHIP

SINCE NO DISTINCTION IS DRAWN BETWEEN VIOLENT AND ILLEGAL

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 03        BELGRA 08320  01 OF 03  221019Z

ACTIVITIES YUGOSLAV EMIGRES ABROAD ON THE ONE HAND,

AND LEGAL ANTI-COMMUNIST POLITICAL ACTIVITY WHICH THE

YUGOSLAV LEADERSHIP REGARDS AS EQUALLY OR PERHAPS EVEN

MORE THREATENING. BUT, AS STRANGE AS IT MAY SEEM TO

THOUGHTFUL AMERICANS, THERE ARE A NUMBER OF INDICATIONS

THAT MANY YUGOSLAV COMMUNISTS SINCERELY BELIEVE WHAT THEY

SAY. AN AMERICAN STUDYING HERE FINDS THAT HIS STUDENT

FRIENDS WHO BELONG TO THE LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS ALL BELIEVE

THAT THE CIA WAS BEHIND THE HIJACKING. FSFA DIRECTOR

FOR NORTH AMERICAN AFFAIRS SAYS HE IS CONVINCED FBI EITHER

ORGANIZED HIJACKING OR KNEW ABOUT IT IN ADVANCE. HOW

CAN INFLUENTIAL, SERIOUS YUGOSLAVS REACH THESE CONCLUSIONS?

4. AMERICANS TEND TO VIEW YUGOSLAVIA PRIMARILY IN TERMS

OF ITS RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SOVIET UNION. WE SEE OUR

MAIN ROLE AS ASSISTING THE YUGOSLAVS TO MAINTAIN THEIR

INDEPENDENCE FROM MOSCOW, PARTICULARLY AFTER TITO. WE

EXPECT THE YUGOSLAVS TO SEE US AS A FRIEND.

5. WHILE MANY YUGOSLAV "MEN IN THE STREET" MAY HAVE

THIS VIEW OF BENIGN UNITED STATES, YUGOSLAVIA'S

COMMUNIST ELITE HAS A MUCH MORE COMPLEX VIEW OF OUR

RELATIONSHIP. WHILE THEY CREDIT US WITH SOME USEFULNESS

IN KEEPING THE RUSSIANS OFF THEIR BACKS, AS MARXISTS AND

LEADERS OF THE NON-ALIGNED MOVEMENT, WITH AN ETHNO-

CENTRIC BALKAN MENTALITY, AN UNSOPHISTICATED UNDER-

STANDING OF THE UNITED STATES, AND EVEN SOME FACTUAL

JUSTIFICATION, THIS ELITE SUSPECTS OUR INTENTIONS AND

FEARS US AS A THREAT, DIFFERENT IN NATURE BUT PERHAPS

EVEN GREATER THAN MOSCOW.

6. YUGOSLAVIA'S POLITICAL LEADERS ARE MARXISTS. THEY

ARE CREATIVE AND HAVE MODIFIED MOARXIST DOGMA AS UNDER-

STOOD IN THE SOVIET UNION, BUT THEY MAINTAIN THEIR

MARXIST VIEW OF THE WORLD. MARXISM HAS NOT BEEN IMPOSED

ON THEM FROM ABROAD AS IT HAS BEEN ELSEWHERE IN EASTERN

CONFIDENTIAL

CONFIDENTIAL

PAGE 04        BELGRA 08320  01 OF 03  221019Z

EUROPE:  THEY CHOSE IT ON THEIR OWN. IN 1948 IT WAS

STALIN WHO REJECTED TITO AND NOT VICE VERSA. YUGOSLAV

COMMUNISTS RESIST SOVIET HEGEMONY, BUT NOT COMMUNISM,

AND A BUST OF LENIN IS POSITIONED AS PROMINENTLY AS TITO'S

PORTRAIT IN THE LOBBY OF THE LEAGUE OF COMMUNISTS

BUILDING.

7. THE YUGOSLAVS RECENTLY SPONSORED A CONFERENCE ON

"SOCIALISM IN THE CONTEMPORARY WORLD" FOR SOCIALISTS

AND COMMUNISTS FROM MANY COUNTRIES, INCLUDING THE SOVIET

UNION. WHILE SENIOR YUGOSLAV OFFICIALS (BAKARIC, GRLICKOV

AND DUSAN POPOVIC) DENOUNCED THE IMPOSITION OF ANY ONE

MODEL FOR SOCIALIST STATES, THEY EXPRESSED STETIMENTS

LIKE THESE:

--"PEACEFUL COEXISTENCE REPRESENTS THE INTERNATIONAL

POLITICAL FRAMEWORK WITHIN WHICH THE CLASS STRUGGLE

IS BEING CARRIED ON...MARXISM IS THE ONLY POSSIBLE

CONFIDENTIAL

KOMRADE KIRO - tells UDBa striking workers enemy of the people

KOMRADE KIRO - a 1973 US diplomatic cable, released by wikileaks, reveals Kiro Gligorov, then a leading Yugoslav Communist and later to become the first President of the Republic of Macedonia in 1991, urged strong security measures to be taken by the Yugoslav government against, ironically, striking workers and equated their actions with anti-state activities.

In other words he was calling for the security services, such as the secret police UDBa (also known as SDB) to come down hard on industrial "troublemakers."

Gligorov was addressing the 44th Plenum of the Party Presidium of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia.

He also warned that the LCY had trouble recruiting workers into the communist ranks. It is no wonder when you consider striking workers were being treated as enemy of the state.

Gligorov held high positions in Tito's Yugoslavia (1945-90) becoming the Speaker in the Yugoslav Federal Parliament as well as an "economics" expert.

In 1991 he became the first President of the Republic of Macedonia, after it declared its independence from the collapsing Yugoslav Federation.

Overnight, Gligorov became a democrat. So much so in 2008 he lectured the current crop of Macedonia's leaders to be moderate despite his own hardline history. He urged a compromise on Macedonia's name dispute with Greece, despite fierce public opposition.

Below are two US Diplomatic cables published by wikileaks; one is from 1973 and the other is 2008.
-------------------------------
R 081525Z NOV 73 FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE TO SECSTATE WASHDC 7782 INFO AMCONSUL ZAGREB LIMITED OFFICIAL USE BELORADE 5061 E.O. 11652: N/A TAGS: PINT PFOR YO SUBJECT: GLIGOROV SPEECH AT LCY PRESIDIEUM SESSION SURVEYS WIDE RANGE OF PROBLEMS 1. KIRO GLIGOROV (LCY EXECUTIVE BUREAU MEMBER FROM MACEDONIA) GAVE KEYNOTE SPEECH AT 44TH PLENUM OF PARTY PRESIDIUM NOV 6 (WE ASSUME FBIS TRANSLATED IN FULL). WE READ SPEECH AS DOCUMENT INTENDED TO BE ONE OF MOST SIGNIFICANT PARTY "EVENTS" BETWEEN LAST YEAR'S LETTER (FROM TITO AND PARTY EXECUTIVE BUREAU) AND NEXT YEAR'S TENTH LCY CONGRESS (WHICH PLENUM SCHEDULED FOR MAY). 2. GLIGOROV'S REFERENCES TO ECONOMIC SUCCESSES (IMPROVED BALANCE OF PAYMENTS, FOREIGN EXCHANGE RESERVES, DOMESTIC LIQUIDITY) AND ECONOMIC PROBLEMS ("SOARING PRICES", DWINDLING REAL WAGES) ARE IN LINE WITH OTHER RECENT COMMENTARY HERE. IN HIS COVERAGE OF BROAD SPECTRUM OF PROBLEMS AND CHALLENGES FACING PARTY, MOST IMPORTANT MESSAGE - THAT GREAT DEAL REMAINS TO BE DONE IN SHORT TIME BEFORE TENTH CONGRESS - IS UNDOUBTEDLY NECESSARY KICK IN THE PANTS AFTER UNWARRANTED OPTIMISTIC SPEECHES ABOUT GREAT THINGS TAKING PLACE IN PARTY AS RESULT OF TITO LETTER. THIS MESSAGE APPEARS TO BE AIMED AT TOO- COMPLACENT HEADS OF BASIC PARTY ORGANIZATION UNITS. GLIGOROV MAKES EXPLICIT WHAT HAS BEEN FREQUENT TOPIC OF DISCUSSION HERE: PARTY UNITS HAVE SO FAR FAILED TO ATTRACT MORE WORKERS INTO RANKS. ONLY IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS (I.E., WHERE THEY ARE MOST VISIBLE) ARE WORKERS GETTING BIGGER PIECE OF PARTY ACTION, HE SAYS; OVERALL, HE ADMITS, PARTY HAS BARELY MANAGED TO STEM FLOW OF WORKER RESIGNATIONS WHICH CHARACTERIZED SITUATION BEFORE TITO LETTER. RESPONSIBILITY FOR ROUNDING UP NEW WORKER MEMBERS IN COMING MONTHS NOW PUBLICLY BEING SHIFTED TO PARTY UNIT HEADS. 3. IN HIS REFERENCES TO ALLEGED "REVIVAL OF NEO-STALINISTIC AND DOGMATIC CONCEPTS" IN YUGOSLAVIA, IT IS NOT CLEAR WHETHER HE IS TALKING ABOUT ACTUAL PHENOMENON OR WHETHER HE IS ESSENTIALLY MAKING GESTURE OF REASSURANCE TO PEOPLE IN REPUBLICS (AND PARTICULARLY TO NON-SERBS) THAT TIGHTENING-UP INSIDE PARTY DOES NOT MEAN ANY TURNING BACK FROM DECENTRALIZED FEDERATION TO CEN- TRALIZED CONTROL OF SOCIETY ON SOVIET MODEL. SUCH GESTURE OF REASURANCE PARTICULARLY BELIEVABLE COMING FROM A MACEDONIAN, SINCE MADECONIA OUTSTANDING BENEFICIARY OF DECENTRALIZATION. 4. CLEARER SIGNAL OF REASSURANCE IS AIMED SQUARELY AT FOREIGN READERSHIP - PARTICULARLY IN US: THIS IS GLIGOROV'S INSISTENCE THAT YUGOSLAV POLICY HAS BEEN ENTIRELY CONSISTENT IN ITS SUPPORT FOR ARABS, ALTHOUGH CERTAIN "QUARTERS" ARE TRYING TO PRESENT YUGOSLAV ACTIVITIES DURING RECENT FIGHTING AS ACT OF RENUNCIATION. OF NONALIGNMENT (I.E., AS HAVING MOVED INTO SOVIET CAMP). FOREIGN SECRETARIAT CONTACT SAID HE HOPED SUCH REASSURANCE NOT REALLY REQUIRED. 5. WE BELIEVE GLIGOROV'S CALL FOR HEIGHTENED SECURITY MEASURES, ALTHOUGH PHRASED IN WAY THAT APPEARS TO TIE NEED FOR VIGILANCE TO PRESSURES FROM ABROAD, IS ALSO A SIGNAL FOR INTERNAL CONSUMPTION: THAT EVIDENCES OF DOMESTIC UNREST SUCH AS STRIKES TO PROTEST WAGE CUTS OR PRICE RISES MAY BE DEALT WITH FIRMLY AS ANTI-STATE ACTIVITIES.TOON ---------------------------------
UNCLAS SKOPJE 000669 SIPDIS STATE FOR EUR/SCE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL, PGOV, NATO, MK SUBJECT: MACEDONIA: FORMER PRESIDENT GLIGOROV CALLS FOR COURAGEOUS LEADERSHIP AND A NAME DEAL SUMMARY 1. (SBU) Still sharp and spry at 91, former President Kiro Gligorov met with Ambassador Reeker November 3 to welcome him back to Macedonia and to share his views on the current political situation and prospects for the future. Gligorov expressed his disappointment in the current Government's lack of courageous political leadership, viewing it as a key missing element to closing a deal on the name issue. He believes that with effective leadership, Macedonians can accept a compromise on the name, saying only the adjective to describe the language and identity of the people are redlines. Gligorov also suggested that Macedonia must realize that it is not the center of the political universe for the U.S., EU, and NATO, and must recognize the limits of other states' and organizations' willingness to solve the country's problems, a view not often expressed here. Macedonia's elder statesman offered a novel view of the country's need for a self-reliant, focused and flexible approach to resolving the name dispute. End Summary. Statesmanship: Let Time Prove you Right ---------------------------------------- 2. (SBU) Former President Gligorov commented on the lack of courage among Macedonia's current political leaders, saying they are hiding behind the "will of the people" rather than leading, pressing for change, and calling for flexibility in resolving the name dispute. Gligorov believes that the Prime Minister and other political leaders must insist on a solution to the name dispute, even if it is not popular, and should "allow time to prove them right" rather than polls and ratings. He cited his own decision to allow Macedonia to enter the UN under the provisional name "the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia" as an example of courageous leadership -- making a decision that was right for the country, if not popular with the people. 3. (SBU) "There is no democracy without compromise," and in Gligorov's view, Macedonian leaders and citizens must be prepared to compromise on "anything other than their language and identity." He called the recent Nimetz proposals good bases for negotiations and resolution, saying that barring a ban on the use of "Macedonian" to describe the language and identity, "all other solutions are practically possible." The World Does Not Revolve Around Us ------------------------------------ 4. (SBU) The former President offered a refreshing view of the role of Macedonia's friends and allies, saying "we are a small country with a small population. There are limitations to how much the U.S. will or should help us." He said that Macedonian leaders relied on their belief that the U.S. could prevent the Greek veto in Bucharest rather than developing a strategy themselves before the meeting. "We must help the U.S. to help us," Gligorov offered, echoing a line the Ambassador uses frequently with Macedonian interlocutors. Gligorov added that the current leaders have done little to make it easy for the U.S. and others to aid them.