John Paul II and the Break-Up of Yugoslavia
Three days ago, on Saturday 2nd April 2005, Pope John Paul II died, and the papers are currently awash with eulogies to him (alongside, in some, not-that-subtle attacks on his views on abortion and contraception). The Pope’s opposition to the war on Iraq has been greatly appreciated by some, and Justin Raimondo of AntiWar.com has reposted an article in which he calls him a peacemaker. Not one paper in Britain, to the best of my knowledge, has, however, mentioned Pope John Paul II’s well-documented role in the break-up of Yugoslavia.
On Wednesday, 21 May 2003, at the Hague Tribunal Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined Prosecution witness Milan Kucan, the former Communist that led Slovenia’s illegal and violent secession from Yugoslavia, and his cross-examination revealed some interesting facts about this role. Milosevic brought up a 8th November 1995 Konakt discussion programme on NTV private television station in which Kucan participated together with Stipe Mesic, Tomac and Spegelj. Stipe Mesic was a Croatian nationalist leader who was Croatian Prime Minister in 1990, and subsequently Croatia’s representative on the Yugoslav federal presidency and the last President of Yugoslavia. The others mentioned were other nationalists and separatists - Spegelj was a former JNA general that Tudjman appointed Defence Minister, and who organised Croatian separatist armed forces. Below are some revealing excerpts that shed light on Pope John Paul II’s direct role in the break-up of Yugoslavia:
Milosevic: Do you please remember your involvement on NTV television, one of those private TV stations in 1995, in November, together with Mesic, Tomac, Spegelj in a live programme? Do you remember that programme that you were a participant of?
Kucan: I would have to look at the footage. I would have to look at the footage; we had many such programmes, I don't know exactly which you're thinking about.
M: Very well. Do you remember, I'm referring to the programme aired on the 8th of November, on the NTV private TV station in which you participated together with Stipe Mesic who at the time headed the party of Croatian Independent Democrats, and also participating were Spegelj, Tomac and others. It was a Kontakt programme. Spectators called in and you had a lot of discussion. I'm sure you didn't have many programmes with the same participants, especially on that date and that year, so surely you remember that programme.
K: Your Honours, I do remember the programme but I don't remember the date, and of course I don't have such a memory to recollect both the programmes and the dates, but I do remember participating in the programme.
M: Very well. That's fine. Now, do you remember that in that programme Mesic - you were present - declared, Mesic declared, that the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Hans Dietrich Genscher, and the Pope John Paul II, by direct agreement and support designed to break up the former Yugoslavia and had practically contributed most to that actually happening? Do you remember the positions he took and the explanations he gave along those lines?
K: Those were the stance of Mr. Mesic.
So here we have it, straight from the horse’s (Mesic’s) mouth, that Pope John Paul II, by ‘direct agreement’ with Genscher of Germany, designed to break up Yugoslavia and contributed most to that happening. Interesting, no? Milosevic backed up this evidence with a direct quotation from Mesic, who explained exactly what he did when President of Yugoslavia:
"I wanted to convey the idea of the break-up of Yugoslavia to those who had the greatest influence on its fate, to Genscher and the Pope. In fact, I had three meetings with Genscher. He enabled a contact with the Holy See. The Pope and Genscher agreed with the total break-up of SFRY."
The Vatican then fervently lobbied for international recognition of Croatia and Slovenia, and the rest is history.
Pope John Paul II has been rightly praised for acknowledging and apologising for past Catholic persecution of Jews. Perhaps one day a future Pope will apologise for his role in breaking up a European country, Yugoslavia, and for all the bloodshed and ethnic cleansing that that caused.
On Wednesday, 21 May 2003, at the Hague Tribunal Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined Prosecution witness Milan Kucan, the former Communist that led Slovenia’s illegal and violent secession from Yugoslavia, and his cross-examination revealed some interesting facts about this role. Milosevic brought up a 8th November 1995 Konakt discussion programme on NTV private television station in which Kucan participated together with Stipe Mesic, Tomac and Spegelj. Stipe Mesic was a Croatian nationalist leader who was Croatian Prime Minister in 1990, and subsequently Croatia’s representative on the Yugoslav federal presidency and the last President of Yugoslavia. The others mentioned were other nationalists and separatists - Spegelj was a former JNA general that Tudjman appointed Defence Minister, and who organised Croatian separatist armed forces. Below are some revealing excerpts that shed light on Pope John Paul II’s direct role in the break-up of Yugoslavia:
Milosevic: Do you please remember your involvement on NTV television, one of those private TV stations in 1995, in November, together with Mesic, Tomac, Spegelj in a live programme? Do you remember that programme that you were a participant of?
Kucan: I would have to look at the footage. I would have to look at the footage; we had many such programmes, I don't know exactly which you're thinking about.
M: Very well. Do you remember, I'm referring to the programme aired on the 8th of November, on the NTV private TV station in which you participated together with Stipe Mesic who at the time headed the party of Croatian Independent Democrats, and also participating were Spegelj, Tomac and others. It was a Kontakt programme. Spectators called in and you had a lot of discussion. I'm sure you didn't have many programmes with the same participants, especially on that date and that year, so surely you remember that programme.
K: Your Honours, I do remember the programme but I don't remember the date, and of course I don't have such a memory to recollect both the programmes and the dates, but I do remember participating in the programme.
M: Very well. That's fine. Now, do you remember that in that programme Mesic - you were present - declared, Mesic declared, that the former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Germany, Hans Dietrich Genscher, and the Pope John Paul II, by direct agreement and support designed to break up the former Yugoslavia and had practically contributed most to that actually happening? Do you remember the positions he took and the explanations he gave along those lines?
K: Those were the stance of Mr. Mesic.
So here we have it, straight from the horse’s (Mesic’s) mouth, that Pope John Paul II, by ‘direct agreement’ with Genscher of Germany, designed to break up Yugoslavia and contributed most to that happening. Interesting, no? Milosevic backed up this evidence with a direct quotation from Mesic, who explained exactly what he did when President of Yugoslavia:
"I wanted to convey the idea of the break-up of Yugoslavia to those who had the greatest influence on its fate, to Genscher and the Pope. In fact, I had three meetings with Genscher. He enabled a contact with the Holy See. The Pope and Genscher agreed with the total break-up of SFRY."
The Vatican then fervently lobbied for international recognition of Croatia and Slovenia, and the rest is history.
Pope John Paul II has been rightly praised for acknowledging and apologising for past Catholic persecution of Jews. Perhaps one day a future Pope will apologise for his role in breaking up a European country, Yugoslavia, and for all the bloodshed and ethnic cleansing that that caused.
posted by Kesler at 2:49 PM
1 Comments:
Satan pakt between berlin vatikan destroyed yugoslavia to destroy serbs but serbs remained undefeated by nato hordes.
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