The Defense Speaks: For History And the Future

by Slobodan Milošević, Ramsey Clark

This look at Slobodan Milosevic's defense statement—regarding his country, his people, and himself—accompanies a legal brief by a former U.S. attorney general. The brief suggests that the American government and its European allies exacerbated religious and ethnic differences in Yugoslavia in order to reduce the country to a group of easily colonized mini-states, while each of the NATO powers and their respective media lied to justify the aggression. Detractors of the recent experiences in Iraq who no longer believe the American government's spin on its foreign policy will find much to consider about the 1999 events in Yugoslavia.

Genres: History

120 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Devin · Rating 5 out of 5]

You may not like Miloševic, but his absolute gutting of the crimes of capitalism and imperialism here are astounding and demand closer attention. 100 pages of a defense speech that lasted 2 days [in total, about 8 hours spread out across 2 days] that exposes the role of the Croatian separatists, Albanian separatists, NATO, the Clinton administration, the German imperialist government, and even the Vatican and the Catholic Church, and their united role to destabilize Yugoslavia, the last of the Eastern Bloc. Miloševic goes to perhaps the most meticulous lengths to expose each party's complicity and not just that, exposes how this very trial against him, painting him as a war criminal, is illegal, bogus, and illegitimate.

There's no doubt that the imperialists thought that Miloševic would fight these allegations in court, but theres also no doubt that they were not fully prepared for how deep Miloševic's research and defense speech would go. This trial was front page news until this opening defense speech, at which point it was dropped off the front page. Why? Because Miloševic told the truth; NATO, the U.S.-Germany-Vatican alliance, and right-wing terrorism had led to the total destruction of Yugoslavia, the ethnic cleansing of hundreds of thousands of Serbs, and the forced removal of those left alive. Miloševic tears through each lie with ease, exposing again and again the countless crimes of imperialism. This speech is a fitting end to a sad epoch in history: the fall of socialism in the Eastern Bloc and the restoration of repressive capitalism [and the dissolution of Yugoslavia].

[Oliver · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Wir werden nicht zulassen, dass die Wahrheit über die Zerstörung Jugoslawiens zum Schweigen gebracht wird."