HEADLINES

Pristina                    1. Some NATO Losses Detailed by Serb General

Belgrade                 2. Lukashenko's Sukhoi Escorts

Sydney                    3. Anglo-Australians Send Flowers, Sympathy to Serbian-Australians

Athens                    4. Greeks Stone, Stop NATO Convoy

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1. Some NATO Losses Detailed by Serb General

PRISTINA, Apr. 17 - In one of the rare public disclosures about some losses suffered by NATO during its 24-day war against Serbia, the commanding office of the Third Army of the Yugoslav Army, Gen. Nebojsa Pavkovic, said today in a Radio Pristina broadcast that his troops had shot down 16 NATO planes, 47 missiles, three helicopters and four pilotless spy planes. The Third Army operates in southeastern Serbia, including Kosovo.

The alleged NATO losses cited by Gen. Pavkovic do NOT include any aircraft or missiles shot down in the northern two thirds of the country which is defended by the First and the Second Armies of the Yugoslav military.

Gen. Pavkovic also said that any effort by NATO do deploy ground troops against his army in Kosovo is bound to fail. "This Serbian province is now being defended by 150,000 highly motivated soldiers," he said.

Other high level Yugoslav military sources have told TiM today that the KLA insurgents have now been defeated from a military standpoint. "There are still a few isolated pockets left," our sources said, "but for all intents and purposes the KLA no longer exists as a fighting force on the territory of Kosovo."

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TiM Ed.: Which, of course, means that when and if any discussions resume about an eventual political solution for Kosovo, the Serbs will be negotiating from a position of greater strength (militarily speaking) than before NATO's aerial attack.

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2. Lukashenko's Sukhoi Escorts

BELGRADE, Apr. 15 - When the Belorussian president, Aleksandar Lukashenko, announced that he was planning to visit Belgrade earlier this week, NATO said that it would not halt its operations nor guarantee his safety. To which the Russian president, Boris Yeltsin, replied that he would guarantee it. Which he evidently did, as Lukashenko's visit came and went on Apr. 14 without an incident.

Lukashenko's plane was escorted by four powerful Russian Sukhoi-27 fighter planes, according to eyewitness reports which TiM has received. Their deployment as Lukashenko's "security guards" is yet another sign that Russia, Belorussia and Yugoslavia are reading from the same page in their opposition to NATO.

By the wat, the Sukhoi fighters are described as superior to any equivalent U.S./NATO aircraft.

"The feared and deadly fourth-generation Sukhoi-27 fighters, which in our opinion easily out-perform, out-range, and out-maneuver their U.S. equivalents," writes John Whitley, publisher of the Toronto-based New World Order Intelligence Update, are a part of the deadly arsenal at the disposal of the Russian Navy's aircraft carriers. Mr. Whitley adds:

"They have extremely powerful missiles and guns, superb radar and aiming equipment, and - for an aircraft weighing over twenty tons - an extraordinarily high acceleration capability and thrust-to-weight ratio. This writer was unexpectedly privileged and surprised some time ago to suddenly witness a Soviet SU-27 perform its unique and deadly "Cobra" maneuver under simulated air-combat conditions: the SU-27 pilot, immediately upon receiving warning of a missile "lock on" by an fighter behind him, pulled his aircraft vertical and slightly back beyond the centre line, well past its apparent stall point - and, in seeming defiance of all of the laws of aerodynamics, the huge fighter hung there for ten seconds or so, for all the world like a cobra reared to strike, suspended by the sheer thrust of its mighty jet engines. Then, as the pursuing warplane shot past below, the SU-27 tipped forward, dropped once again into level flight behind its adversary - and the hunter suddenly became the hunted!"

For the full report, see http://www.inforamp.net/~jwhitley/BILDNEWS.HTM .

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3. Anglo-Australians Send Flowers, Sympathy to Serbian-Australians

SYDNEY, Apr. 16 - "Not everyone subscribes to the war propaganda of NATO and its agencies," writes Fr. Srboljub Miletich, dean of the Serbian Orthodox St. Stephen Church in Rooty Hill, Sydney, Australia.. On Apr. 14, a vase with a bunch of beautiful flowers was delivered our church by a group of Anglo-Australian women, along with the following letter:

"We feel moved to write to you to express our sadness and despair at the unspeakable anguish being experienced by so many in your country. Our hearts go to all those who are suffering, regardless of nationality.

The conflict in your native land is complex and difficult for us , so far away, to understand - but we are shocked at the brutality that has been unleashed by NATO, intending to force a resolution of hostilities, but in fact intensifying and extending them. We cannot imagine the extent of your people's agony at the destruction of all that is precious to them.

Whilst feeling deeply for the pain of your people, we hope that you will do all in your power to encourage a spirit of reconciliation in the hearts of those in your congregation.

Here in Australia, perhaps we can demonstrate the profound benefits of working, both as individuals and as members of communities, to ensure that mutual compassion is fostered and nurtured for the sake of peace for future generations of all Australians."

J. Hartigan, H. Jenkinsn and a circle of well wishers

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4. Greeks Stone, Stop NATO Convoy

ATHENS, Apr. 15 - About 500 Greeks turned back a convoy of NATO trucks carrying military equipment to Macedonia on Thursday in protest against the alliance's air strikes against Yugoslavia, the Reuters news wire reported on Apr. 15.

Police said the protestors blocked the national road a few kilometers (miles) before the Evzoni border crossing at the Greek-Macedonian frontier. and forced the 15-truck convoy to turn back after smashing the leading vehicle's windows with stones.

Greece, a NATO member, provides logistical support to the alliance's military operation against Yugoslavia, but is also a traditional Serb ally and has repeatedly called for an end to the air attacks.

Sounds of air raid siren and of bombs in Belgrade

Belgrade Photos    Taken by TiM

Also, check out... Truth in Media Statement on Kosovo Crisis, "Wither Dayton, Sprout New War?", "On the Brink of Madness", "Tragic Deja Vu's," "Seven U.S. Senators Suggest Ouster of Milosevic", "Biting the Hand That Feeds You", "A Balkan Affairs Potpourri", "Put the U.N. Justice on Trial", "International Justice 'Progresses' from Kidnapping to Murder", "Milosevic: 'A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery'...", "Kosovo Lie Allowed to Stand", "New World Order's Inquisition in Bosnia", "Kosovo Heating Up", "Decani Monastery Under Siege?", "Murder on Wall Street",  "Kosovo: 'Bosnia II', Serbia's Aztlan",  "What If the Shoe Were on the Other Foot?", "Green Interstate - Not Worth American Lives", "An American Hero or Actor of the Year?" (A June '95 TiM story) and/or "Clinton arme secrètement les musulmans bosniaques"

Or Djurdjevic's WASHINGTON TIMES columns: "Chinese Dragon Wagging Macedonian Tail,"  "An Ugly Double Standard in Kosovo Conflict?", "NATO's Bullyboys", "Kosovo: Why Are We Involved?", and "Ginning Up Another Crisis"

Or Djurdjevic's NEW DAWN magazine columns: "Washington's Crisis Factory,"  and "A New Iron Curtain Over Europe"