control of the village. They claimed that,rnon the previous day, police separatedrnwomen from men, taking the men to thernditch and killing them on the spot;rnThe AP TV j o u r n a l i s t s ‘ t e s ­timonies,rnas well the materrni a l they have filmed, givernan e n t i r e l y opposite i n t e r ­prnr e t a t i o n of t h i s event.rn. . . After t h i s , the surroundedrnPCLA members wererndesperately t r y i n g to breakrnthrough. . . . Maybe the KLArnhas thus wisely turned i t srnm i l i t a r y defeat i n t o a polrni t i c a l victory?rnA similar account was published in DiernWelt (January 22) and reported on thernBBC World Service and Radio France International,rnamong others. Commentingrnon the story. Business Day, South Africa’srnequivalent of the Wall Street Journal, remarkedrnthat “the electronic imagesrnbeamed nightly into our sitting rooms”rnare used to dictate the style of foreign policyrnin the post-communist era (Januaryrn26). But who is wagging whom? In thernend, journalists and politicians are merelyrncomplementing one another.rnThere is still hope: According to a BBCrnNews report by Jonathan Duffy (Januaryrn27), most people—in Britain, at least—rnthink that both journalists and politiciansrnare liars. According to a major survey,rnpoliticians ranked only slightly higherrnthan journalists in terms of trust.rnWhile most of the balanced reportingrnon Racak has come from the Frenchrnpress, the French are not alone in their resistancernto American interventionism onrnthe side of the Muslims in the Balkans. Inrnits main editorial on January 10, Rome’srnLM Repubblica stated that the latest crisisrnwas triggered by the Albanians, who hadrnbegun to provoke the Serbian army andrnpolice with hit-and-run attacks timed torncoincide with the Orthodox Christian Christmas.”rnThree militiamen were killed, and anrnofficer and several soldiers of the Yugoslavrnregular army were seized.rnThis provocation was an escrna l a t i o n whose u l t i m a t e objrne c t i v e i s not to defeat thernSerbs on the ground, but tornb r i n g them d i r e c t l y underrnthe bombs of NATO a i r c r a f trnsent by an A t l a n t i c a l l i a n c ernt h a t the Kosovo Albaniansrnwould l i k e to secure as anrno u t r i g h t m i l i t a r y a l l y inrnt h e i r l i b e r a t i o n struggle.rn. . . The most s i g n i f i c a n trnpoint, which the Serbs consrni d e r i n a l i e n a b l e , is t h e i rrn”no” to Kosovo’s independence,rnand in t h i s they seemrnto enjoy s u b s t a n t i a l supportrnfrom several NATO c o u n t r i e s .rnLa Repubblica concluded that the KLArnguerrillas will continue their attacks in anrnattempt to draw NATO into the fighting,rnbut to no avail, since “America’s propensityrnto military intervention against Serbiarnis not shared by its principal Mediterraneanrnpartners in NATO, first and foremost,rnFrance and Italy.”rnThe Italians’ lack of enthusiasm for thernKLA cause may be partly due to an interestingrnaspect of the Kosovo conflict thatrnthe American press has ignored: Thernguerrillas are financed through an intricaternnetwork of Albanians who controlrnthe drug market in Italy. As the Corriererndella Sera reported on January 19:rnUntil he was locked up inrns o l i t a r y confinement . . .rnAgim Gashi—the 35-year-oldrncriminal boss from P r i s t i n arnand king of the Milan drugsrnmarket—supplied h i s brothersrni n Kosovo with Kalashnikovrnr i f l e s , bazookas, and handrngrenades. He c o n t r o l l e d thernheroin market, and at leastrnp a r t of the b i l l i o n s of lirernhe made from i t was used tornbuy weapons for the ” r e s i s ­tance”rnmovement of the AlbanianrnKosovo community. . . .rnHe r a l l i e d his Muslim brothernr s , Turkish heroin suppliernr s , to d e l i v e r the goodsrnduring Ramadan—a v i o l a t i o nrnof r e l i g i o u s rules for thernsake of a more importantrncause: “to submerge Christrni a n i n f i d e l s in drugs.”rnOf course, whether Italy—and the restrnof the West, for that matter—may still berndescribed as “Christian” is debatable.rnTake the United States, for instance,rnwhere President Clinton issued the followingrnmessage on January 19:rnTHE WHITE HOUSE, Office ofrnthe Press Secretary—For ImmediaternRelease: Warm g r e e t ­ingsrnto Muslims across Amerirnc a and around the world asrnyou mark the end of the holyrnmonth of Ramadan and c e l e ­brnr a t e the f e s t i v a l of Id a l -rnF i t r . The month of fastingrnt h a t you have j u s t completedrndemands d i s c i p l i n e and arns p i r i t of s a c r i f i c e . But i trna l s o d e l i v e r s a profound r e ­ward:rnthe opportunity tornshow people of every f a i thrnwhat i s precious about I s ­lrna m – i t s c h a r i t y , i t s genernr o s i t y , and i t s e s s e n t i a lrnhumanity. All people in thernworld are moved by your observancernof Ramadan and byrnthe devotion and d i g n i t yrnt h a t make Islam one of thernworld’s great r e l i g i o n s . Asrnyou welcome the appearancernof the new moon and thernclose of Ramadan, Hillaryrnj o i n s me in extending bestrnwishes for a memorable c e l e ­brnr a t i o n and for peace,rnhealth, and p r o s p e r i t y inrnthe year to come.rnWhile we ponder what happened to thernseparation of mosque and state in Clinton’srnAmerica, let us take heart from thernfact that, in Europe, political incorrectnessrnis apparently still alive and well. Arncartoon superhero—”Captain Euro”—rnwas recently launched to promote the newrnEuropean currency to children and Internetrnusers. (His adventures can be foundrnon the Intemet at www.captaineuro.com)rnCaptain Euro is a handsome male withrnchiseled features, a ready smile, and absrnof steel. His companion is a blonde, blueeyedrnbombshell, Europa Helen, a deadrnringer for Posh Spice. Together, theyrnfight an evil organization led by a sinisterrnDr. D. Vider—a Leon Trotsky lookalikern—”who seeks to divide Europe andrncreate his own empire.” Dr. Vider’s comradesrninclude a dark-skinned woman, arngnome-like (whoops, vertically challenged)rnman, and others who share an unmistakablyrnLevantine appearance.rnAlthough the president of the EuropeanrnParhament, Jose-Maria Gil-Robles,rnrecently gave an interview to CaptainrnEuro on topics such as the new currencyrnand its impact on the European identity,rnrespectable people are outraged. In England,rnan organ of the race-relations industryrn(Searchlight) described the cartoonrnas “an amazingly racist and xenophobicrnpiece of trash.”rnAPRIL 1999/23rnrnrn