Tonight was a terrible night for my city

- Tuesday, 20 April

Dear Sabrina,

Tonight was a terrible night for my city.  At about 11 p.m. several strong
explosions could be heard and the window panes rattled.  My cat scurried
into a corner.  I went to the window to see what was going on, even though
I knew -- NATO was paying us a visit.  Next I could hear were NATO planes
flying over the city and another explosion (later on I found out:  they
were aiming at the Nis industrial zone -- the factories and the airport).  The
skies were ablaze with fire as the anti-aircraft guns started to fight
back.
My daughter and my wife are, thankfully, quite collected and calm, so we
went over to the windows to see things better.  One of the planes seemed to
be hit, or it may have been one of the launched rockets.    Explosions,
both muffled and clear, quite adjacent to our block, could be heard.  The whole
building (we live in a block of flats, fourth floor) was shaking.

This parade of planes flying rather low and the anti-aircraft fire lasted
for quite a while -- perhaps as long as half an hour.  The neighbour's dog
was barking all the time ---  through the open windows we could hear little
kids crying while being taken to shelters, their worried mothers soothing
them...

None of my family go to the shelters because we all feel very
claustrophobic there.  I tried it for a couple of days and even spent a couple 
of nights in there, but later decided against it:  too many people, my latent 
fear of being caved in there...

One of the local TV channels (there are eight independent local channels in
Nis) has just informed us:  several factories were hit...

It is 1:30 a.m. now and no-one feels like sleeping...

Best,
Djordje

20 April (12:56 a.m.)

Dear Sabrina,

I hope I made it clear that I do not mind being up there on the Peacelink
site.  On the contrary.

The end result of tonight's bombing:  one dead, 15 wounded.  All civilians
of course.  Several streets in the vicinity of the Tobacco factory
levelled,
only rubble left.  The Tobacco factory of Nis was hit, and hit, several
times last night and it is no more.   35,000 workers out of work now,
meaning that 100,000 people will be left penniless.

I just got an email from Noam Chomsky, you may quote it on the Message
board.  It is ominous, as the American administration has stated its
targets
now  --- they are focusing on economy, and, of course, you know what it
means.  It is time NOW to HELP or Serbia will cease to exist in no time at
all!!! Please spread the word!!

------------
The Chomsky email:

Dear Professor Vidanovic,

Sorry for the long delay in responding.  I have been so
overwhelmed with Balkans-related demands that I haven't been able
to keep up with the torrent of e-mail.

About the DU story, I'd be cautious.  There is no "solid
scientific evidence" about the effects of DU in Iraq.  There are
some epidemiological correlations that are very hard to verify,
in part because of so many complicating factors.  It could turn
out to be a serious problem, but there is no publicly available
compelling information, as far as I am aware.  Things are bad
enough just keeping to the verifiable information -- for example,
today's announcement that the "economy" is now a prime target.
Easy to translate that into English.

Noam Chomsky

--------------------------------------

And one more message I just got from a British friend, David A. HIl,
currently living in Budapest:

Dear Djordje,
I know sorry ain't enough, but I don't know what else to say. I've just
seen
the pictures of Nis ablaze on the 7.30 Euronews bulletin.....I'm sure
hitting the cigarette factory will bring a swift end to the Milsoevic
regime!
And another nicety of which you'll enjoy the bitter humour: NATO says it
cannot blockade the Montenegro ports where oil is still getting to
Yugoslavia because that would be an act of war and would require a UN
resolution, and this is not a war....
Nemam reci. 
I'm so sorry for what my co-nationals are doing to you.
All love
David
 ------------------

Best to you,
Djordje