Dr. Daniele Ganser: Serbia 1999, an illegal war (Berlin 5.12.2016)(english subtitles)

The Swiss historian and peace researcher Dr. Daniele Ganser spoke on December 5, 2016 in Berlin about the NATO attack on Serbia in 1999, which he classifies as illegal. Ganser relies on the UN ban on violence, which clearly prohibits wars since 1945, and says: All UN members refrain from any threat or use of force in their international relations. Ganser shows in his lecture how framing in political communication creates a mental framework to steer the thoughts and feelings of the population without them noticing. Framing was also used in Germany: Before the attack on Serbia, the German Defense Minister Rudolf Scharping claimed that there were concentration camps in Pristina. That was not true. With the lie about the concentration camps, a false impression was created in Germany that this war was a good war to help the people in Serbia. The ARD journalists Jo Angerer and Mathias Werth later showed with their valuable documentary "It Began with a Lie" that the concentration camp frame was wrong. Scharping had invented a horror story. Colonel Lieutenant Jochen Scholz also confirmed that Rudolf Scharping led a veritable PR battle in 1999. Scharping did this repeatedly with unfounded claims and had no qualms about inventing stories such as the concentration camp. Ganser concludes his lecture with the finding that honest politicians and media are needed. War propaganda always generates suffering and confusion. It is important that the frame, i.e., the interpretation framework of a war, be critically questioned. Above all, the UN prohibition on the use of force must be respected, as wars of aggression are always illegal.