Byzantine Blog

Shameless Double Standards Most Westerners Refuse to See

It has been painfully obvious to the greatest majority of Serbs for couple of decades now that shameless double standards are a dominant feature of Western mainstream media and politicians in relation to every aspect of dissolution of former Yugoslavia, civil wars that followed and Serbian people in general.

So, the exact same people that will tell you that 1993 Christmas Day massacre in Bosnian village Kravice by Srebrenica-based Muslim troops, when 49 Serbian civilians were killed, was an episode which indeed never warranted more than a (cautious) condemnation — and certainly not any outrage or, God forbid!, direct military intervention by the NATO — those same self-righteous, pompous gnomes won’t blink an eye when reminded that 19 NATO states launched a merciless three-month bombardment over Federal Republic of Yugoslavia under a pretext that Serbian police has massacred 40 Albanians in the village of Racak, on January 15, 1999.

You see, 49 massacred Serbs at the beginning of the war are easy to forget, 40 Albanian Muslims at the end of a war are deemed a sufficient cause to start a 78-day aggression on a sovereign state, dealing with foreign funded and trained terrorists who seek to dismember that state. So much so, that then-German Foreign Minister Joschka Fischer called Racak “the turning point” when the moral imperative of making war on Serbia became apparent.

To make things worse and to show how thoroughly brainwashed Western masses really are, after completely losing their capacity for critical thinking, the alleged “Racak Masacre” that instigated NATO carnage was no more than a rather clumsy hoax.

Nine Years Since Racak Hoax, a CIA-Staged Excuse for NATO Aggression

On today’s day in 1999, head of OSCE Mission in Kosovo and Metohija, American “diplomat” William Walker, accused Serbian police (although it was, actually, a multi-ethnic, Yugoslav police that conducted anti-terrorist actions in Serbian province of Kosovo) for “massacre” of 40 Albanians in the village Racak. It turned out that the victims were not civilians, but members of the Albanian terrorist KLA (UCK in Albanian) and that the entire incident was staged by Walker and KLA to serve as a pretext for NATO’s one-sided air war against Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Belgrade daily Glas javnosti offers detailed report about the CIA-setup under Walker’s directorship that caused untold misery, pain and suffering to Yugoslav citizens and state.

Anti-Terrorist Action by Yugoslav Police Observed by OSCE, Two Foreign TV Crews and a Number of Foreign Reporters: None of Them Saw a Massacre, Until William Walker Saw it

At the beginning of January 1999, the command post of the KLA terrorist brigade comprising of 126 members was set up in Racak. Among 126 terrorists, notorious terrorist family Mujota, responsible for the assassinations of six policemen, was also based in Racak. The surrounding villages Petrovo, Luzak and Rance were under the KLA control as well.

Yugoslav police informed the OSCE mission about its intention to carry out an anti-terrorist action in the village of Racak. These were the so-called ‘verifiers’, who had to be invited to observe every action of the Yugoslav police against the Albanian terrorists, so they make sure the use of force is not “disproportionate” and civilians are not being harmed. The anti-terrorist action started at 8 a.m. After a battle that lasted whole day, Yugoslav police has defeated the Albanian terrorists in Racak, who have suffered casualties.

This is how French daily Le Figaro, which had its special reporter Renaud Girard on the ground, described the action by the Yugoslav police and the events reporters witnessed on that day:

“[...] At dawn the Serb police surrounded and attacked the village of Racak, known to be a base of the separatist KLA. The police had nothing to hide, since at 8:30 a.m. they invited a television crew (two reporters of the American Associated Press) to film the operation. Members of the OSCE mission were also present: on location were two vehicles with American diplomatic plates. The OSCE observers stayed on location the whole day, situated in a valley from where they were able to observe the village.

“At approximately 3:00 p.m., a police report was made public via the International Press Center in Pristina, which stated that, during the course of fighting at Racak, 15 KLA terrorists were killed and a significant quantity of weapons was confiscated. At 3:30 p.m. the police forces, accompanied by the television crew of Associated Press, left the village, taking with them a heavy artillery piece of 12.7 mm caliber, two hand-held artillery pieces, two sniper rifles and approximately 30 Kalashnikovs manufactured in China. At 4:30 p.m., a French reporter drove through the village, where he encountered three orange OSCE vehicles. The international observers were calmly talking with three adult Albanians in civilian clothes. They were looking for possible injured civilians. Upon returning to the village at 6:00 p.m., the French reporter saw the observers taking away two women and two old men, who were very lightly injured.”

In the center of the village, in a house where the KLA base was set up, police has found a computer containing data about the Racak KLA brigade and the list with 126 terrorists based in the village. The list included four foreigners, with American or British names. It was determined that those were KLA foreign instructors.

When Yugoslav police started pouring through the village and securing the roads and trenches, Albanian terrorists from the Lake Mountain (Jezerska planina) and the surrounding villages attacked them. They opened fire from the hills above the trenches and Yugoslav police was forced to withdraw from Racak due to strong offensive and unfavorable, low-ground position. That is when the grand hoax started, to be launched into the world as an alleged massacre of civilians by the Serbian police.

Walker Personally Sets the Stage Before Inviting Reporters

Bodies of the Albanian terrorists killed during the battle were being pulled out of ravines and creaks by the other KLA troops seizing the village, to be placed in a field where there were no bodies before. Associated Press TV crew which entered the village with Yugoslav police earlier has recorded that the very field where allegedly executed Albanians were piled up, was empty at the time police was in the village. Albanian terrorists have redressed some forty bodies, replacing their KLA uniforms with civilian clothing. They drove the other killed terrorists in their uniforms towards Budakovo village, where they probably buried them.

Early next morning, William Walker came to the field to instruct the Albanian terrorists surrounding him on how to position the bodies, so that the scene appears as a massacre, i.e. the execution of the civilians. After the stage was set, Walker brought the TV crews and reporters over. Detailed description of the whole setup is available in the book titled “Second Kosovo Battle” by reporter Milorad Drecun, under the “Racak Hoax” chapter.

Finnish Forensic Specialists Find No Evidence of Massacre, i.e. the “Executions”

A team of Finnish forensic specialists headed by doctor Helena Ranta arrived to Racak to determine the cause of death of the Albanians found. The final report submitted by the Finnish forensic experts contained no evidence that on January 15, 1999 Albanian civilians were massacred, wrote German daily Berliner Zeitung which received the report prior to official publishing.

German daily informed that the initial report by the Finnish forensics contained half-truths and contradictory claims, later admitted by Helena Ranta, but without any qualms regarding the dishonorable role she played. She said that her report had to be approved by William Walker before being submitted.

That is when it became obvious that Racak hoax was a planned action by all those who took part in the aggression on FR Yugoslavia, since the alleged Racak massacre served as a pretext to Western and German politicians to give their consent to NATO attack.

Helena Ranta Reveals the Truth 9 Years Later

Marking the shameful anniversary of Racak Hoax, Tanjug reminds how then US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright told CSB that “dozens of people had their throats slit in Racak” and that the only solution was in “humanitarian air strikes” on Yugoslavia.

On the other hand, reports Tanjug, three teams of forensic experts — from Yugoslavia, Belarus and Finland — found only firearm wounds on the bodies of the victims.

Special tests revealed gunpowder residue on the hands of 37 of the 40 bodies, proving that the victims were using firearms immediately prior to their death.

The head of the Finnish forensic team, Helena Ranta, backed Walker's statement prior to the bombings, saying that she was expressing her personal view. However, on Jan 23, 2007, Ranta admitted to Belgrade daily Blic that the final Finnish forensic report "did not contain proof about either a massacre or execution taking place in Racak."

In a Russian television documentary titled "End - condemned to exile", recently broadcast on the Serbian television (RTS), Ranta admitted that Walker was horrified by the results of the investigation of the Finnish forensic team and that, at the time, she was unprepared to oppose him, but that now she is ready to speak out.

KLA Chief Confirms: Racak was a Fierce Battle. Nothing More.

According to three Berliner Zeitung reporters who investigated Racak hoax (Bo Adam, Roland Heine and Claudius Technau), “UCK [KLA] is in the best position to bring light to the case.”

And here is what its commander in chief Hashim Thaci had to say to the BBC regarding Racak: “We had a key unit in the region. It was a fierce battle. We regrettably had many victims. But so did the Serbs.”

Also recommended: Diana Johnstone’s January 20, 1999 comments, alongside her English translations of initial articles by French reporters on the ground, from Le Figaro and Le Monde.