Macedonian Press Agency: News in English, 01-12-02

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From: The Macedonian Press Agency at http://www.mpa.gr and http://www.hri.org/MPA.

CONTENTS

[01] KARAMANLIS SPEECH IN XANTHI

[02] MAGRIOTIS ON GREEK LIVING ABROAD NETWORKS

[03] ROMANIAN «PROCURER RATTED ON» PASSARIS

[04] AFGHANISTAN WAR PREARRANGED

[01] KARAMANLIS SPEECH IN XANTHI

Åchinos in the Xanthi area, an agricultural region populated mostly by Muslims, was visited by the President of New Democracy, Kostas Karamanlis, two days ago.

In his speech to the residents, he said he is initiating a discussion with the Muslim minority, for the joint formation of a modern policy, and he referred to the problems the population of the mountain region of Thrace is facing, in the light of the new problems in agricultural economy, and in the broader Greek periphery, laying enormous responsibilities at the feet of the PASOK government.

Concerning more general political issues, he said that the government has tired the people, and is tired itself. It has nothing more to offer. New Democracy's advance has caused the reaction of the establishment, and is leading the government's leadership to extremes.

The President of New Democracy noted that his party will not "play" at the "table" of fanaticism, and called to all voters, regardless of what they voted in the last elections.

In the meantime, speaking at a party meeting on the importance of tobacco to agricultural economy on Saturday, Mr. Karamanlis characterized the next 2-3 months as crucial to the problems of tobacco producers, and stressed the need for the Prime Minister himself to intervene.

Mr. Karamanlis stated that despite beautification of the situation by government staff members, there is a serious danger of a final negation of subsidies to tobacco producers.

Lastly, he accused the government of trying to transfer the tobacco producers' problem to the next term, so that, as he said, "it may be carried on the backs of our government", and he added that "the solutions must be drawn up today so that our country does not face another dead end".

[02] MAGRIOTIS ON GREEK LIVING ABROAD NETWORKS

The new chapter of Hellenism of the 21st century begins with the 4th World SAE in a few days in Thessaloniki, stressed deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Giannis Magriotis, in an interview to the "Aggelioforos tis Kyriakis" newspaper.

"Our goal is to build Greek living abroad networks, because until today, SAE expressed Greeks living abroad who were organized in traditional structures and organizations of the diaspora", he explained. Also, Greeks living abroad are not scared immigrants living their first years away from their homeland. They are successful businessmen, distinguished scientists, elected to local government positions and the receiving countries' parliaments. That is the Hellenism we want to meet and express in the new era of Greeks living abroad".

[03] ROMANIAN «PROCURER RATTED ON» PASSARIS

The key piece of information that led to the arrest of Kostas Passaris in Bucharest last Tuesday, was given to the UM 0962 intelligence unit of the Romanian Ministry of the Interior, by a well known "procurer" of Bucharest, announced the Head of the UM 0962, Virgil Ardelean. DA authorities claim that there were methodic steps taken that led to the arrest of the Greek criminal and his friend Mioara Badila. Police sources mention that Passaris was "ratted out" by his Romanian friend, Gabriel Melinde, who rented him the apartment on 129 Tourda, where he was arrested.

Passaris' friend was arrested with the help of a "procurer" who was "protecting" her, in the Herastrau club in Bucharest. Passaris met the Romanian prostitute in that club a month earlier.

Authorities mention that Passaris is under constant guard by men of the special forces, and his handcuffs are not removed because he is considered especially dangerous.

[04] AFGHANISTAN WAR PREARRANGED

Ôhe war in Afghanistan was an operation that had been decided and was being organized by the CIA and the Pentagon for months- long before the September 11 attacks, as mentioned by the "Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia" newspaper, quoting documents of an official European source, which it has in its possession.

These documents, according to the newspaper, reveal information which put this immense issue into a new perspective for world public opinion. Specifically:

It is made known that US agents had been in Pakistan from the Spring of 2001 in order to negotiate with the Taliban on turning over bin Laden, who was "targeted" as the one responsible for the attacks against the US Embassies in Africa and the USS Cole in Yemen. Their mission, at the same time, was to bring the Musaraf regime (through blackmail or financial means) closer to the USA.

It is revealed that the negotiations with the Taliban failed (the Head of the CIA, John Tenet himself was in Islamabad secretly in June) and the US were ready by August, having already neutralized most Taliban footholds in the Pakistan Secret Service.

Legitimate questions

This new information leads one to legitimate questions on bin Laden's position:

-Was he trying to create a diversion, knowing that the noose was tightening?

-Was he trying to escalate the oncoming confrontation by creating conditions of war polarity between the West and Islam?

-Was he betting on the Pakistan public opinion, which was sympathetic to his views, and was he then hoping for an uprising that would undermine the US-Musaraf agreement?

In any case, in the light of this new evidence, it is now understandable why the US immediately spoke bin Laden's name, just a few hours after the attack on New York.

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