J.- your question is a difficult one to answer, and a good one to have
asked.

<My question is seperate. What should the people of Yugoslovia do? Is it
better to support an American-backed candidate who may not have the
people's best interests at heart, or to support someone possibly
responsible for killing thousands of innocent people?>

Let me begin by saying that I have posted recently to the Chomsky list,
about the US manipulation of 3 different elections.... Mexico, Peru, and
Yugoslavia.

In the case of Mexico I have relatives who were PRI supporters, and I
personally was able to visit Mexico at the time of the July election.
I did not exactly feel a sense of liberation or jublation at the victory
of the US sponsored candidate, Vicente Fox.    And this, despite the
regime of terrorism and dictatorship that Mexico had from the PRI for
over 70 years.

In Yugoslavia, something similar is going on, despite the major
differences between the two countries.      Much of the support for the
'opposition' comes from a desire to find and take an avenue that might
lead away from more direct confrontation with US war and economic
sabotage.     It is not so much direct hatred for Milosevic, though
there is plenty of that to go around.

Milosevic leads a leadership clique that took their power, and have made
a mess of defending the nationalized sectors of property in Yugoslavia.
This is similar to the criminal PRI element in Mexico, who looted the
public wealth in operations like PEMEX (oil), and used this to enrich a
tiny group of operators (Salinas de Gortari/ Milosevic families).
There is a huge sector in both countries that would co-operate with the
devil himself to get rid of these types of gangsters.

In the case of Peru, it is even harder to get animated against the US
manipulation of its internal affairs.     Especially when it seems that
for the US to do so, would appear to mean getting rid of an element like
Fujimori.      I see something simiar here, to what happened with how
the Left went ahead and allowed the Australian government to move into
East Timor, all the while applauding.

The key is for US/ Australia/ Western European activists not to get
bogged down in anything other than for fighting for self determination
for those areas where their OWN governments want to make dictates.
And wish the best for all those activists in those areas that have been
devastated by imperialist manipulations and plots.

Tony Abdo