[Fwd: Albanian arms dealer donated cash to Kerry]

[Ivo Skoric]

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