http://antiwar.com/malic/index.php?articleid=1700
Balkan Express - January 15, 2004
Back to the Balkans?
Calls for Renewed Intervention
by Nebojsa Malic
Is the Balkans back in Washington vogue? After a couple of seemingly
isolationist years (that were, of course, nothing of the sort) when
the limelight was on the Middle East, there's been a renewed push by
the forces of punditry to get the peninsula back on the Imperial
agenda. Underneath dire warnings and venomous denunciations lies a
hunger to revisit the scene of Clintonian triumphs as the Great Bush
Adventure keeps foundering in the sand. Triumph of the Radicals in
the recent Serbian parliamentary election
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=1390] may have provided the
opportunity, but it is unlikely the renewed interest in the
south-eastern corner of Europe is unrelated to the politics of the
upcoming American election.
With Wesley Clark actually boasting about his "accomplishments" in
Kosovo and inching ahead in polls, raising the Balkans issues could
be a way to support his candidacy. If he were ever elected, Heaven
forbid, chances are he would resurrect the policies of intervention
in all their cruise-missile glory. On the other hand, if all the
caterwauling manages to sway the Bush regime to get Clintonesque on
the peninsula, the shills would still be happy. They care little as
to who holds the reigns of power, long as he leads in their desired
direction. Right now, it seems that direction is back to the Balkans.
The Two Rants: Abramowitz…
According to an op-ed by ICG's godfather Morton Abramowitz, which
appeared
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60592-2004Jan6.html%5d
in the Washington Post on Christmas Day (as celebrated in Serbia),
America's alleged inactivity in the Balkans threatens to undo all
the "successes" of the previous regime, and urgent action is needed.
Apparently, even though "much effort and treasure have been spent on
trying to help produce decent, functioning states," the "stench of
Slobodan Milosevic's rule still pervades Serbia" enough that a
"rabid nationalist party led by an indicted war criminal" threatens
to ruin everything the noble Americans and their European allies
have wrought over the past decade.
Abramowitz also rants against the Serbia-Montenegro union and bemoans
the fact that Kosovo was not given independence immediately after
its forced detachment from Serbia. He blames those on American and
European policy-makers, additionally making an absurd accusation
that western governments "largely avoided putting conditions on
their aid and coddled the democratic forces."
Say again? Granted, Abramowitz's pet regime in Podgorica may have
been a recipient of unrestricted US largesse, but Serbia, Croatia and
even Bosnia have known nothing but blackmail and extortion for years.
Even Zoran Djindjic had complained bitterly about not receiving the
promised 30 pieces [http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m100401.html%5d of
silver.
If it seems Abramowitz has an axe to grind, that's because he does.
In addition to being one of the US-sponsored advisors to the KLA
[http://www.hri.org/news/misc/events/1999/99-03-10_1.even.html%5d
delegation in Rambouillet, he is also the founder of the
International Crisis Group [http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m050301.html%5d,
which advocates a re-centralized Bosnia
[http://crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=1524&l=1] and independence for
an Albanian Kosovo [http://crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=1640&l=1]
and a de-Serbified Montenegro.
[http://crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=1714&l=1]
…And Silber
A near-identical call could be heard six days later, on the pages of
The New York Times/International Herald Tribune, where Laura Silber
[http://www.iht.com/articles/124659.html%5d, chief political advisor
to George Soros' Open Society Institute, was adamant: "America must
act." Not only is Serbia in a "backslide," Kosovo is still not
independent and Bosnia is not yet fully centralized. According to
Silber, this is an inexcusable disaster, and must be remedied
forthwith.
Not surprisingly, Silber's arguments echo Soros's own
[http://sorosny.org/gsbio/financial_times_052403.htm%5d. They are also
incoherent. Just as an example, she criticizes the Dayton
Constitution as creating a Bosnia "hamstrung by layers of
overlapping and contradictory constitutions, laws and administrations,"
but supports a proposal
[http://www.esiweb.org/reports/bosnia/showdocument.php?document_ID=48]
"reducing" the current thirteen governments to twelve!
Such an argument against the present arrangement's cost and efficiency
does not hold water, for one simple reason. If efficiency were truly
an issue, common sense would dictate that centralization should
begin from the eleven governments of the Muslim-Croat Federation.
But this is somehow never entertained seriously, and any
consolidation of the Federation into two ethnic units is seen as
"partition" instead. The real goal is to abolish the Serb Republic,
which compared to the Federation runs remarkably smoothly, by dividing
it into cantons or provinces – in effect, creating more
inefficiency, only now easier to control from Sarajevo or Washington.
None of this should come as a surprise. Silber's claim to expertise
stems from co-authoring "Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation,"
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140262636/
antiwarbookstore/] a hateful little pamphlet
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/foretold.html%5d that blames all the
Balkans ills on Slobodan Milosevic.
The Great Hunt
Meanwhile, in Bosnia itself, NATO's occupation forces launched
another futile hunt
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=4&u=/nm/
20040111/wl_nm/warcrimes_bosnia_karadzic_dc] for Radovan Karadzic,
wartime president of the Serb Republic wanted by the Hague
Inquisition on charges of "genocide." In cruel winter conditions,
they raided the town of Pale
[http://www.serbianna.com/news/story/104.html%5d for two days,
ransacked private homes, churches and hospitals, held people hostage
and eventually arrested one former police officer on vague suspicions.
Needless to say, they failed
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/
20040112/wl_nm/warcrimes_bosnia_dc] to find any trace of Karadzic,
but declared yet another "success."
Armed raids by occupying forces can never be civil, but NATO seems
to enjoy poking the Bosnian Serbs in the eye every chance it gets.
In addition to Americans and Britons, this weekend's raid was conducted
by German, Bulgarian and Italian troops – just like in the good old
days [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/savich3.html%5d of WW2. Their
ancestors knew how to organize a proper hunt back then
[http://www.eliteforces.freewire.co.uk/Waffen%20SS%20Text+Images/
FAL_500.htm], complete with paratroopers and armored columns. Of
course, they had failed just as badly…
Besides the desire to validate its Balkans interventions by
capturing and putting on trial one of the men it has designated a
villain, there are signs the Empire may also be seeing to "bag"
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-
dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59012-2001Nov7¬Found=true]
Karadzic for the sake of appeasing the world Muslim opinion. However
hard they may try, the endeavor is a waste of breath. It seems the
prevalent Muslim opinion
[http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/3808/%5d on Bosnia and
the West is already well-established, and there is no room in it for
acknowledging American intervention. Indeed, it is often denied
entirely.
Nonetheless, voices claiming that Bosnia is an example of the US
"helping Muslims" [http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m022003.html%5d are
still raised from time to time, and Washington's commitment to the
Muslim vision of Bosnia remains constant. Such ongoing support of
causes connected to the jihad
[http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST011004.html%5d
seems to stem from belief that militant displays of Islam could be
harnessed for Imperial purposes – a notion as dangerous as it is
misguided. One thing is clear, at least: Bosnia and Kosovo are proof
that the "War on Terror" is both bogus,
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=967] and a far cry from a
"crusade."
Not Done Yet
There are few reasons for the Bush regime to listen to exhortations
by Abramowitz and Silber. For whatever reason, the Balkans has not
been the preferred foreign policy battlefield of the current US
government. Trying to make it into one now would offer too many
potential pitfalls, and few discernible benefits, what with the
former Yugoslavia being treacherous political grounds on the best of
days. Also, it would look too much like a retreat from Babylon, and
play neatly into the hands of Candidate Clark
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=1009]. Anything is
possible, though.
Whatever the White House decides, one thing is a given: the Empire
isn't done with the Balkans.
Not by a long shot.
Balkan Express - January 15, 2004
Back to the Balkans?
Calls for Renewed Intervention
by Nebojsa Malic
Is the Balkans back in Washington vogue? After a couple of seemingly
isolationist years (that were, of course, nothing of the sort) when
the limelight was on the Middle East, there's been a renewed push by
the forces of punditry to get the peninsula back on the Imperial
agenda. Underneath dire warnings and venomous denunciations lies a
hunger to revisit the scene of Clintonian triumphs as the Great Bush
Adventure keeps foundering in the sand. Triumph of the Radicals in
the recent Serbian parliamentary election
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=1390] may have provided the
opportunity, but it is unlikely the renewed interest in the
south-eastern corner of Europe is unrelated to the politics of the
upcoming American election.
With Wesley Clark actually boasting about his "accomplishments" in
Kosovo and inching ahead in polls, raising the Balkans issues could
be a way to support his candidacy. If he were ever elected, Heaven
forbid, chances are he would resurrect the policies of intervention
in all their cruise-missile glory. On the other hand, if all the
caterwauling manages to sway the Bush regime to get Clintonesque on
the peninsula, the shills would still be happy. They care little as
to who holds the reigns of power, long as he leads in their desired
direction. Right now, it seems that direction is back to the Balkans.
The Two Rants: Abramowitz…
According to an op-ed by ICG's godfather Morton Abramowitz, which
appeared
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60592-2004Jan6.html%5d
in the Washington Post on Christmas Day (as celebrated in Serbia),
America's alleged inactivity in the Balkans threatens to undo all
the "successes" of the previous regime, and urgent action is needed.
Apparently, even though "much effort and treasure have been spent on
trying to help produce decent, functioning states," the "stench of
Slobodan Milosevic's rule still pervades Serbia" enough that a
"rabid nationalist party led by an indicted war criminal" threatens
to ruin everything the noble Americans and their European allies
have wrought over the past decade.
Abramowitz also rants against the Serbia-Montenegro union and bemoans
the fact that Kosovo was not given independence immediately after
its forced detachment from Serbia. He blames those on American and
European policy-makers, additionally making an absurd accusation
that western governments "largely avoided putting conditions on
their aid and coddled the democratic forces."
Say again? Granted, Abramowitz's pet regime in Podgorica may have
been a recipient of unrestricted US largesse, but Serbia, Croatia and
even Bosnia have known nothing but blackmail and extortion for years.
Even Zoran Djindjic had complained bitterly about not receiving the
promised 30 pieces [http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m100401.html%5d of
silver.
If it seems Abramowitz has an axe to grind, that's because he does.
In addition to being one of the US-sponsored advisors to the KLA
[http://www.hri.org/news/misc/events/1999/99-03-10_1.even.html%5d
delegation in Rambouillet, he is also the founder of the
International Crisis Group [http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m050301.html%5d,
which advocates a re-centralized Bosnia
[http://crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=1524&l=1] and independence for
an Albanian Kosovo [http://crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=1640&l=1]
and a de-Serbified Montenegro.
[http://crisisweb.org/home/index.cfm?id=1714&l=1]
…And Silber
A near-identical call could be heard six days later, on the pages of
The New York Times/International Herald Tribune, where Laura Silber
[http://www.iht.com/articles/124659.html%5d, chief political advisor
to George Soros' Open Society Institute, was adamant: "America must
act." Not only is Serbia in a "backslide," Kosovo is still not
independent and Bosnia is not yet fully centralized. According to
Silber, this is an inexcusable disaster, and must be remedied
forthwith.
Not surprisingly, Silber's arguments echo Soros's own
[http://sorosny.org/gsbio/financial_times_052403.htm%5d. They are also
incoherent. Just as an example, she criticizes the Dayton
Constitution as creating a Bosnia "hamstrung by layers of
overlapping and contradictory constitutions, laws and administrations,"
but supports a proposal
[http://www.esiweb.org/reports/bosnia/showdocument.php?document_ID=48]
"reducing" the current thirteen governments to twelve!
Such an argument against the present arrangement's cost and efficiency
does not hold water, for one simple reason. If efficiency were truly
an issue, common sense would dictate that centralization should
begin from the eleven governments of the Muslim-Croat Federation.
But this is somehow never entertained seriously, and any
consolidation of the Federation into two ethnic units is seen as
"partition" instead. The real goal is to abolish the Serb Republic,
which compared to the Federation runs remarkably smoothly, by dividing
it into cantons or provinces – in effect, creating more
inefficiency, only now easier to control from Sarajevo or Washington.
None of this should come as a surprise. Silber's claim to expertise
stems from co-authoring "Yugoslavia: Death of a Nation,"
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0140262636/
antiwarbookstore/] a hateful little pamphlet
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/foretold.html%5d that blames all the
Balkans ills on Slobodan Milosevic.
The Great Hunt
Meanwhile, in Bosnia itself, NATO's occupation forces launched
another futile hunt
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=4&u=/nm/
20040111/wl_nm/warcrimes_bosnia_karadzic_dc] for Radovan Karadzic,
wartime president of the Serb Republic wanted by the Hague
Inquisition on charges of "genocide." In cruel winter conditions,
they raided the town of Pale
[http://www.serbianna.com/news/story/104.html%5d for two days,
ransacked private homes, churches and hospitals, held people hostage
and eventually arrested one former police officer on vague suspicions.
Needless to say, they failed
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=2&u=/nm/
20040112/wl_nm/warcrimes_bosnia_dc] to find any trace of Karadzic,
but declared yet another "success."
Armed raids by occupying forces can never be civil, but NATO seems
to enjoy poking the Bosnian Serbs in the eye every chance it gets.
In addition to Americans and Britons, this weekend's raid was conducted
by German, Bulgarian and Italian troops – just like in the good old
days [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/savich3.html%5d of WW2. Their
ancestors knew how to organize a proper hunt back then
[http://www.eliteforces.freewire.co.uk/Waffen%20SS%20Text+Images/
FAL_500.htm], complete with paratroopers and armored columns. Of
course, they had failed just as badly…
Besides the desire to validate its Balkans interventions by
capturing and putting on trial one of the men it has designated a
villain, there are signs the Empire may also be seeing to "bag"
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-
dyn?pagename=article&node=&contentId=A59012-2001Nov7¬Found=true]
Karadzic for the sake of appeasing the world Muslim opinion. However
hard they may try, the endeavor is a waste of breath. It seems the
prevalent Muslim opinion
[http://usa.mediamonitors.net/content/view/full/3808/%5d on Bosnia and
the West is already well-established, and there is no room in it for
acknowledging American intervention. Indeed, it is often denied
entirely.
Nonetheless, voices claiming that Bosnia is an example of the US
"helping Muslims" [http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m022003.html%5d are
still raised from time to time, and Washington's commitment to the
Muslim vision of Bosnia remains constant. Such ongoing support of
causes connected to the jihad
[http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/News/Trifkovic04/NewsST011004.html%5d
seems to stem from belief that militant displays of Islam could be
harnessed for Imperial purposes – a notion as dangerous as it is
misguided. One thing is clear, at least: Bosnia and Kosovo are proof
that the "War on Terror" is both bogus,
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=967] and a far cry from a
"crusade."
Not Done Yet
There are few reasons for the Bush regime to listen to exhortations
by Abramowitz and Silber. For whatever reason, the Balkans has not
been the preferred foreign policy battlefield of the current US
government. Trying to make it into one now would offer too many
potential pitfalls, and few discernible benefits, what with the
former Yugoslavia being treacherous political grounds on the best of
days. Also, it would look too much like a retreat from Babylon, and
play neatly into the hands of Candidate Clark
[http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=1009]. Anything is
possible, though.
Whatever the White House decides, one thing is a given: the Empire
isn't done with the Balkans.
Not by a long shot.