<nettime> Slobo's Last Chances

[Replicant <replicant@null.net>]

The following article was published in this week's "Private Eye" magazine
in the UK....

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Slobo's Last Chances
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4 November 1991: As the Yugoslav army batters Croatia, the European
Community issues an ultimatum to Slobodan Milosevic: "Belgrade Gets Final
Warning", the _Los Angeles Times_ reports.

18 April 1992: According to the _Times_, Serbia has received its "final
warnings" from the international community.

11 July 1994: Douglas Hurd and the French foreign minister travel to the
Balkans "to deliver a final warning" (_Daily Mail_).

6 December 1994: "There is not much time left," John Major declares, adding
that this is a "final warning" to the Serbs.

9 June 1998: "The European Union, appalled at the bloodshed and murder of
innocent civilians in Kosovo, delivered a final warning to President
Milosevic yesterday and began to prepare the ground for military
intervention" (_Glasgow Herald_).

12 June: "NATO last night confronted Slobodan Milosevic with the explicit
threat of military force to end Serbia's violent crackdown in Kosovo, on
the eve of a final warning from the major powers..." (_The Independent_).

14 June: RAF Jaguars are to put on a massive show of force, the _Mail on
Sunday_ reveals, "as a final warning to Serbian President Slobodan
Milosevic".

16 June: The three-hour display of NATO air power is hailed as a great
success. "The European Council followed up the exercise with a strong final
warning to Mr Milosevic".

24 June: Trouble-shooting diplomat Richard Holbrooke visits Belgrade, the
_Independent_ reports, "in what is being seen as a final warning to Serbia
to stop the fighting in its troubled Kosovo province before NATO
intervenes".

2 October: "Defence secretary George Robertson today delivered a stern
final warning to the Serb 'bully boys' in Kosovo - stop killing or face
military action..." (_Edinburgh Evening News_).

5 October: "Final Warning to Milosevic" (_Newcastle Journal_).

10 October: "NATO in Final Warning to Milosevic" (_Scotsman_).

11 October: "Another week, another final warning... Richard Holbrooke, the
American special envoy, is back in Serbia, delivering the West's latest
ultimatum to Slobodan Milosevic over Kosovo" (_Daily Telegraph_).

12 October: "Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic has been given a deadline
of midnight to back down over Kosovo or face air strikes," the _Daily Mail_
announces dramatically, adding that B-52s with cruise missiles are flying
in to "underline [the] final warning".

20 January 1999: "NATO Delivers Final Warning: War planes on 96 hours'
notice to attack Serbia" (_Birmingham Post_).

29 January: "NATO yesterday delivered a stern and final warning to
President Slobodan Milosevic that it would use force..." (_Independant_).

19 February: "Milosevic Gets Final Warning" (_Newsday_, New York).

18 March: "NATO Gives Serbs a Final Warning" (_International Herald Tribune_).

22 March: "Serbs Storm On As Nato Gives 'Final Warning'" (_Daily Mail_).

23 March: "Richard Holbrooke, the United States envoy dispatched to
Belgrade, yesterday delivered the 'final warning' to Yugoslav president
Slobodan Milsevic" (_Independent_). Note the use of inverted commas around
the much-loved catchphrase. Can it be that this warning is really final?

24 March: Not quite. "British government officials said that Mr Milosevic
still had one last chance" (_The Times_).

25 March: Bombs away! Tony Blair warns that if Serbia dares to retaliate
against the airstrikes, Milosevic can expect a "swift and severe" reaction
from NATO. And that's final.

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-- Downlode --
http://www.backspace.org/downlode/ 

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