HELP, Info needed on Kerry's position on The Balkans

[Francesca]

I have 2 Serbian friends who started arguing with me yesterday that Kerry would be bad for them and does not have their best interests in mind. I asked for specifics and was given nothing (my friends don't speak English well and were reporting on a rumor from another friend). Obviously it's silly for them to be upset when they don't even know why.... I told them to calm down and that I was totally unaware of any statements Kerry has made on the Balkans and would get back to them. My friends are not US citizens so they cant vote either way (and I hate to sound callous) but Kerry's position on the Balkans is not an issue that will have any bearing on my vote whatsoever but I would like to give my uninformed friends an informed answer. Can anyone send me links or a brief synopsis on his positions...

[Gasolinedream]

1. I just e-mailed about this...

last night. Same problem.

[Gasolinedream]

2. No response yet...JUST CHECKED

JUST CHECKED.

[clydefrand]

3. Take a look at this and see if it helps clarify his position

http://www.johnkerry.com/issues/national_security/balkans.html

[Francesca]

4. yes that helps

Thank you, Honestly feel their position has always been a bit radical, they don't like to admit there was any ethnic cleansing going on. My male friend fought in the army under milosovich but does not like to discuss it.....

[reorg]

5. this article may shed some light on the concerns of your friends

Documentary reveals Albanian arms dealer donated cash to the Kerry campaign

FRASER NELSON
IN NEW YORK

JOHN Kerry has acquired a financial backer likely to provide him with more problems than support in his battle for the White House: the Kosovo Liberation Army. A documentary produced by a Dutch television crew alleges Florin Krasniqi, an Albanian arms dealer, is buying weapons in the US and sending them to Kosovo - while perfecting contacts with the Democratic Party in the United States.

...

The Kerry fundraising event is shown making a direct pitch for Albanian money. Mr Holbrooke warns in a speech that Mr Bush is planning to pull troops out of Kosovo - the implication being the Serbs would be unconstrained.

...

The documentary goes on to show Mr Krasniqi buying guns from a dealer in St Mary's, Pennsylvania. With frankness bordering on the brazen, he explains to the film crew how easy it is to smuggle arms. "We had set up a hunting club in Albania," he says - and simply tell anyone who asks they are planning an excursion to Tasmania.

...

While there is no suggestion that Mr Kerry had knowledge about the funds being donated by Mr Krasniqi, the video will be deeply embarrassing for the Massachusetts senator as he combats accusations of being soft on terror.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1244732004

[Lefty48197]

6. The Serbs don't care much for us Democrats

Since it was Bill Clinton and Wes Clark who put their bloodthirsty murderous "Butcher of the Balkans", Milosevich out of the killing business. Yeah, if I was a hired killer, and somebody put me out of business, I'd be pissed off too.

[reorg]

7. Comment on this myth

Gaining control of Russian Oil
by John Laughland

"... The West's failure in Iraq is as striking as its success in Eastern Europe. The former communist states of Europe have now been comprehensively colonised by the US and its European allies. The political penetration of them is now total, as became clear in February 2003, when the US was able to call on heads of state and government in every single East European member of the EU and NATO to produce an open letter supporting the impending Anglo-American attack on Iraq, at a time when the whole of the rest of the world was lining up against it. Even (perhaps particularly) the Bosnian Serbs, whose terrifying 'nationalism' - according to the New World Order fairy-tale version of events - is supposed to have set the Balkans alight in the 1990s, have shown no desire whatever to get rid of the American military bases implanted in their midst since then. The fact that the height of Slavic resistance to the command "Jump!" is to ask for permission to smoke another cigarette first was undoubtedly the reason why American strategists were notoriously convinced that colonising Iraq would be 'a cakewalk'. ..."

http://globalresearch.ca/articles/LAU410A.html

[Goldmund]

8. That's patently false

Since it was those same Serbs who overthrew that same "butcher of the balkans" in a popular revolt. And who got beaten on the streets by his police for 10 years before that in mass demonstrations.

The reason that Serbs don't like Democrats lately is because the GOP has a propaganda arm in the Balkans. I saw it with my own eyes; I have relatives there and went to visit a few weeks before our elections, and often I saw various American politicians on TV sweet-talking the Serbs into thinking that only the GOP has their best interests in mind.