Conference taveng::bagels

    I tend to agree with the assessment that at worst, Waldheim was
    a minor war criminal.  What is disturbing is the fact that this
    man was sec'y-general of the UN; Why Yugoslavia, after proving his
    criminality, ended up voting for him in the UN (who or what was
    behind this move, who are Waldheim's friends?); and that he probably
    will be elected president of Austria on Sunday.
    
    Helmet Kohl, that midget among men, came through with another gaffe
    last week, by supporting Waldheim, and saying he didn't believe
    any of the charges, etc.
    
    Austria has never been a hospitible place for Jews to live in, numerous
    anti-semitic incidents have been recorded in the last ten years,
    and there is a healthy revanchist neo-nazi movement.  After the
    Waldheim incident I would wholeheartedly suggest to our brethren
    there to leave Austria in the near future.  The official statements
    from Austrian officials bear a disgustingly disguised anti-semitic
    tone such as: references to the World Jewish Congress as the "Jewish
    World Congress" (this "mistake" has constantly been repeated).
    
    David 

    I read an interesting editorial about Waldheim a week or so ago.
    I think it was written by William F. Buckley, whom I normally don't
    read, but this was interesting. 
    
    He also wondered how Waldheim could have made it to Sec. General of the
    UN., especially with the help of the Russains. His basic comment was
    that his predicessor, U Thant, kept a tight rain on the third world
    radical states, and prevented the UN from becoming disfunctional.
    During the ten years of Waldheim, Buckley asserts that Waldheim allowed
    the UN to cater to every radical group around, including the PLO.
    Buckley beleives this to be the reason why Waldheim got so much support
    from the Eastern Block. 
    
    I must admit, that if you look at it from the aspect of the total
    change of the UN into a disfunctioning body, you could argue that
    the leadership, mainly Waldheim, was at the least poor, and at the
    most, conspiring to subvert the intention of the UN. In any event, Buckley
    does put forth an interesting theory.
    
    Jack

    re: .2
        
    Yeh, maybe that theory holds a bit of water.  But I don't think
    any one person could keep a "tight reign" on the third world, that
    is more or less the evolution  of the third world's growing political
    power (which I don't oppose, of course not when they steer off the
    track vis-a-vis the middle east).
    
    David

    Any thoughts???? Many thoughts!!!
    
    I think it is an embarrasment to the civilized nations of the world
    that they were so easily lied to and so easy to convince.
    
    Whether Mr. Waldheim was a dyed-in-the-wool butcher of Salonika,
    or he was just a Lt. following orders (I've heard that before),
    he had no buisness being elected to govern the UN.  Be that as it
    may he will probably get elected because the electorate see  things
    differently over there.  Interesting though how soon after Resolution
    242 was passed (scant decades), Zionism  is declared racism.
    
    Incidentaly, according to an historical perspective 50 is only a
    piss in the bucket.  I should be interested in seeing how things
    turn out.
    
    Bruce Cohen
    

    ...having spent 10 years at the UN in Geneva has certainly explained
    a lot about the place after the latest. 
    It sure is hard to beleive the **** one has to go through (U.S citizens
    must pass a security clearance from the US Govt. before they are
    allowed to work there-in direct contravention of the UN Charter,
    etc) to beleive that good ole Kurt just made it without some major
    power(s) making some deals for his acquiesence to certain goals
    those powers had/have.
    Please refer to the Klaus Barbie story...a U.S agent after the war.
    Seems like the same tune again...

Associated Press Wed 14-MAY-1986 12:24                               Waldheim

   Group Releases Documents Allegedly Linking Waldheim to Massacres
   NEW YORK (AP) - Documents in the National Archives link former
U.N. Secretary General Kurt Waldheim with reprisal massacres
against Yugoslavian villages in 1944, the World Jewish Congress
charged today.
   The documents, signed with Waldheim's name, are reports
pinpointing activities by ``bandits,'' or partisans, on the
Stip-Kocane road. Within 48 hours, three villages - Krupiste, Gorni
Balvan and Dolnyi Bolvan - were burnt to the ground, and 114 people
were killed.
   Elan Steinberg, WJC executive vice president, said at a news
conference that Waldheim had to know of orders mandating reprisals
wherever partisan activities were found.
   Another document released by the group, also signed with
Waldheim's name, reported that in another instance, 739 partisans
were killed and 94 prisoners taken - though only 63 weapons were
confiscated.
   ``Most if not all of the remainder - more than 700 people - were
unarmed civilians,'' and Waldheim must have known that, said Eli
Rosenbaum, the congress' general counsel.
   Waldheim, a candidate for president of Austria, repeatedly had
denied any involvement in war crimes and says recent charges are
part of a political smear campaign against him.
   However, he has admitted that he did not reveal the length of
his service to the Germans.
   The World Jewish Congress has been investigating Waldheim's war
record. Today officials called upon the Austrian, Yugoslavian or
Greek governments to conduct an official inquiry.