by Michael Sells
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September 5, 1996
There was an earlier exchange on the Telegraph report that former British Foreign Secretary, Douglas Hurd, was now involved in lucrative business deals with Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, the archictect of the destruction of Yugoslavia and of the genocide in Bosnia. Hurd is reported to be acting in his role as a director of the National Westminster Bank and deputy chairman of its subsidiary NatWest Markets.
Hurd is widely considered the major figure in the Western complicity with Milosevic in the annihilation of the Bosnian community. It was Hurd who, in a sly gesture, suggested to Milosevic's men at the UN to ask the Security Council for an arms-embargo that would give Milosevic an unbridgable arms advantage and allow him to carry out his "ethnic cleansing" program with impunity. It was Hurd (and Hurd's colleague Malcolm Rifkind) who for three years vetoed any effective action to stop the genocide.
Now, only a year after the Srebrenica massacres, Hurd is cashing in, in a very public way.
In response to my posting, "Rapido" blamed the British Oligarchy for genocide throughout the world. That may be true, but it is not helpful in finding specific actions to take about Hurd's complicity in genocide. Oligarchies by nature are probably genocidal. I know the U.S. oligarchy encouraged genocide in Central America for over 100 years.
But usually, the architects of complicity in genocide have enough "discretion" to avoid an immediate run to get publicly paid off.
Hurd, who is supposed to be respected for his "diplomatic" skills, is being very undiplomatic in running to make money with Milosevic even as the graves of Milosevic's victims are being unearthed by investigators for the International Tribunal on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia.
I just returned from a lovely, 10 day visit to Britain. The British people I met were as far as you can get from the despicable behavior of a Douglas Hurd. So the question remains: what can decent people do about the direct complicity of their political and economic leaders in genocide.
National Westminster Bank and NatWest Markets are now, if the reports are true, fully cooperating with the man whose victims are being excavated throughout Eastern Bosnia, and their major link is a former British Foreign Secretary who spent three years providing diplomatic cover for Milosevic's crimes, including concentration camps, massacres, organized rape, systematic annihilation of cultural heritage, and a network of killing-centers.
Milosevic's role in all of this is most clearly documented in the BBC video series, Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation.
So yes, the oligarchy is evil, sure. But what can we do about companies and individuals who this blatantly and openly connive with a practitioner of genocide?
Here is the report on Hurd's activities:
""Electronic Telegraph
International News
Sunday 1 September 1996
Banker Hurd to fund 'Butcher of Belgrade' Tim Judah in Belgrade
SLOBODAN Milosevic, Serbia's president who was once dubbed the Butcher of the Balkans, believes he has found just the man he needs to help prop up his cash-strapped regime - Douglas Hurd, Britain's former Foreign Secretary.
Mr Hurd has recently been in Belgrade where he is known to have had at least one secret breakfast meeting with Mr Milosevic in which they discussed deals worth millions of pounds. As Foreign Secretary, Mr Hurd issued threats to the recalcitrant Serbs during the war in Bosnia. All that is in the past.
[note--while Hurd routinely issued threats against Milosevic if the genocide proceeded, he systematically prevented NATO from carrying out those threats--M. Sells]
Since he left the Cabinet in July 1995, Mr Hurd has become a director of the National Westminster Bank and deputy chairman of its subsidiary NatWest Markets. The latter has recently secured lucrative contracts both to advise on Serbia's debt and to help prepare the PTT, Serbia's telephone system, for privatisation.
Mr Hurd met Mr Milosevic for a discreet breakfast on July 24. According to one well-placed source: "Hurd came to thank Milosevic personally for the business and he did this because NatWest wants to scoop up forthcoming privatisations in the electricity and oil sectors which will be worth millions.""