Kerry Returned Money to Albanian Arms Dealer

Thu Nov 11 19:26:32 CET 2004

Didn't help him much either way, though. Decency does not pay off. 
Kerry's campaign - now in hindsight - seemed to me in rush to 
acknowledge defeat, even before the votes were counted. Perhaps the 
history will give us a final answer to that rather strange 
concession. Americans may start using their brains four years from 
now. Of course, nobody knows whether they would also regain control 
over the voting process - hijacked by the rigged computers this year. 
Then the economy is going to be far worse for 90% of the Christ-
loving populace. Under Bush - who just talks about small government - 
the US has the largest government ever, that spends about 1/5 of the 
US GDP. Miltary will gobble up even more of the budget - it already 
spends the GDP of India - but there will be extra spending to outfit 
more troops to fight more wars and to keep the wars going. More money 
will be returned to those who have it via tax cuts and elimination of 
inheritance tax, while more money will be taken off the middle class 
and the poor, since government spending will rely more on the income 
taxes. Bush is already busy privatizing social security even before 
he swears in again. So most of the aging can expect less when they 
retire. The heartland may rejoice because, however poor, they will 
live in the country where abortions and gay-marriages are banned. And 
they should turn to God to help their cildren stay healthy and learn 
well, since they voted against secular solutions to health care and 
education problems. When they can't pay their mortgages (the interest 
rates will increase and will screw those not locked into fixed 
rates), they should rejoice that they have the biggest, meanest 
flying war machines in the world. Also, they should celebrate - 
because the immigrants are LEAVING - this is the first time ever that 
we see the reverse flow of the Irish - they are leaving the US and 
going back to their now more prosperous Ireland:
http://www.nytimes.com/2004/11/10/nyregion/10irish.html
ivo

On 8 Nov 2004 at 11:13, Stacy Sullivan wrote:

FYI -- The Kerry campaign returned Krasniqi's donations a few days
before the election, as soon as this became public. 

-----Original Message-----
From: Maglich, Marko [mailto:mmaglich at ny.whitecase.com] 
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 11:36 AM
To: ivo at balkansnet.org; Olivera Pavlovic; edagro at verizon.net;
LasiewiczN at aol.com
Cc: stacy Sullivan
Subject: RE: [Fwd: Albanian arms dealer donated cash to Kerry]

Disgusting.

-----Original Message-----
From: Ivo Skoric [mailto:ivo at reporters.net]
Sent: Friday, October 29, 2004 11:08 AM
To: Olivera Pavlovic; edagro at verizon.net; LasiewiczN at aol.com
Cc: stacy Sullivan
Subject: Re: [Fwd: Albanian arms dealer donated cash to Kerry]

If Kerry is elected, he should return that money. I don't think it is
ethical for an American president to have accepted money from anybody
interested in violent struggle anywhere in the world. I do not 
qualify
Krasniqi as a criminal. He might indeed have been a freedom fighter.
The line between the two is sometimes very thin. And precisely 
because
of that, an American president cannot be involved with that. This 
kind
of uncritical money acceptance brought the US in the foreign policy
mess it is in now: foreigners buying favors from US politicians -
Serbs, Albanians, Croats, Israelis, Saudis, you name it. US
politicians take the money and make the promise. Too many promises
were made to too many opposing sides like that: now to make good on
them for everybody is impossible, creating widespread grievances.
Instead of being thankful, those foreigners then hate the US because
of broken promises (just check the Osama Bin Laden's tapes). US
politicians should restrain their support - and their graft - only to
those political forces abroad that promote non- violent societal
changes rooted in democratic principles. Everything else is a
liability in today's media-driven world. ivo

On 29 Oct 2004 at 12:18, Olivera Pavlovic wrote:

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	Albanian arms dealer donated cash to Kerry
Date: 	Thu, 28 Oct 2004 10:04:16 -0500
From: 	John Peter Maher <jpmaher at neiu.edu>
To: 	John Peter Maher <jpmaher at neiu.edu>

Scotland on Sunday - International - Documentary reveals
Albanian arms dealer donated cash to the Kerry campaign

Sun 24 Oct 2004
FRASER NELSON
IN NEW YORK

JOHN Kerry has acquired a financial backer likely to provide him
with more problems than support in his battle for the White
House: the Kosovo Liberation Army.

A documentary produced by a Dutch television crew alleges Florin
Krasniqi, an Albanian arms dealer, is buying weapons in the US
and sending them to Kosovo - while perfecting contacts with the
Democratic Party in the United States.

Mr Krasniqi is filmed at a Kerry fundraising event handing over a
cheque, then chatting and joking with senior Democrats including
Wesley Clark, the former NATO commander and Richard Holbrooke, Mr
Kerry's senior foreign policy adviser.

The documentary, broadcast last month in The Netherlands and
seen by The Scotsman, follows Mr Krasniqi from his home in
Brooklyn in New York to his Albanian base where he distributes
arms to mercenaries on the Kosovo border.

Showing remarkable candour, Mr Krasniqi says the KLA has
"unfinished business" with the Serbs and predicts that war will
break out again in "about a year and a half" if the UN does
grant Kosovo independence from Serbia and Montenegro.

The Kerry fundraising event is shown making a direct pitch for
Albanian money. Mr Holbrooke warns in a speech that Mr Bush is
planning to pull troops out of Kosovo - the implication being
the Serbs would be
unconstrained.

John Belushi, the Albanian-American actor, then appears in a
video soliciting donations. "If you care about the fate of
Albanians in the Balkans, I hope you'll do anything to can to
make sure John Kerry is elected as our next President," he says.

The documentary goes on to show Mr Krasniqi buying guns from a
dealer in St Mary's, Pennsylvania.

With frankness bordering on the brazen, he explains to the film
crew how easy it is to smuggle arms. "We had set up a hunting
club in Albania," he says - and simply tell anyone who asks they
are planning an excursion to Tasmania.

He admits being "caught twice" - by Italian and Swiss
authorities - but allowed to proceed after saying the Albanian
hunting club was preparing for an expedition to hunt elephants
in Tasmania. Other arms are smuggled under humanitarian aid, he
says.

While there is no suggestion that Mr Kerry had knowledge about
the funds being donated by Mr Krasniqi, the video will be deeply
embarrassing for the Massachusetts senator as he combats
accusations of being soft on terror.

Mr Krasniqi is named in the Federal Election Commission returns
as a registered donor to the Kerry campaign at his Brooklyn
address. The sum is dollars 1,000. The Kerry-Edwards campaign
was asked to comment, but did not return calls to The Scotsman
yesterday.

http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=1244732004

---------------------------------------------------------
Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org

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Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org