Data: 29/08/2002 01:25
Da: Targets
A: redactie@...
Oggetto: German invasion in Yugoslavia
German invasion in Yugoslavia
By Eve-Ann Prentice
Belgrade - The Serbian traveller was incandescent at the communist-style
red tape which ensnared him when he went to buy a Yugoslav Airlines
ticket.
'You deserve to be sold off to Lufthansa,' he shouted at the girl behind
the counter.
In a land rich in expletives, that was perhaps not much of an insult,
but
the man at least exposed the growing unease in Yugoslavia over a new
Germanic invasion in the country. What the Austro-Hungarian empire and
then
the Nazis failed to win by force of arms in the first and second world
wars
- supremacy in the Balkans - Germany is now about to achieve by money
and
stealth.
German companies have bought much of the Serbian media, including 50 per
cent of the former pillar of communism, the daily newspaper Politika,
and
taken a stake in TV Kosova, the broadcasting outlet set up by Slobodan
Milosevic's daughter, Marija. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung has
invested
25 million euros in Politika, and the biggest European publishing house
in
Germany, Grunner & Jahr, has bought 49 per cent of the Belgrade tabloid
Blic. Another German company has expressed interest in buying up the
water
utilities in Montenegro, the mountain republic which with Serbia makes
up
what remains of the Yugoslav federation. This month, the German
government
also decided to donate ten million euros for the reconstruction of
central-heating plants in the cities of Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad.
On the same day the airline passenger was ranting at Yugoslav Airlines,
a
Serbian doctor looked rueful when I asked him how his eight-year-old son
was faring in English lessons at school. The gynaecologist stroked his
child's head. 'They don't teach them English any more,' he said.
'Instead
he is being taught German.' Add to this the fact that Germany's old
wartime
ally, Croatia, has published a map which inadvertently contains little
nibbles of Serbian territory in the north, and you may understand why
Serbs
are feeling even more paranoid than usual.
In a region where history is never consigned to the dustbin, ancient
hostilities are dusted down almost daily. Old photographs of fathers,
brothers, grandfathers and cousins remind both Serbs and Croats of the
loved ones they lost in the second world war - when the Serbs rescued
British airmen and thousands of Jews from the German and Croatian
fascists
- and later, in the 1990s civil war.
Now new rumblings of discontent can be heard; Vojvodina, the flat,
northern, breadbasket province of Serbia, comprises 60 per cent
Hungarians,
who are showing signs of wanting to go their own way. There is another
Germanic root here: remember the Austro-Hungarian empire?
Vojvodina also borders Croatia, the two territories separated by the
mighty
Danube. But a recently published official map of Croatia showed a
frontier
which encompassed the river and took in nearby Serbian towns and
villages
such as Apatin and Sonta. The Croats said it was just a slip of the pen.
Tensions between Serbs and Hungarians in Vojvodina may come to a head on
1
September, when the town of Subotica commemorates the day that the
Austro-Hungarian Empress Maria Theresa granted it the status of a royal
free town in 1779. Usually, one member from each ethnic group there
receives a merit award each anniversary for outstanding contributions to
society. This year Serbs are angry because none of them will receive an
award, only Croats and Hungarians.
In late July there was a skirmish on the border between Croatia and
Vojvodina when Serb soldiers opened fire too close for comfort to a
boatload of Croatians sailing down the Danube at Backa Palanta. The
Serbian
Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, was forced to apologise, but the Croats
have retorted that saying sorry is not enough. That same weekend, a
former
Serbian television presenter and pop star, Zoran Tomasovic, was at a
family
funeral near the Vojvodina town of Kovilj, when he and his relatives
were
shouted at by roadside vegetable traders and told to 'go back to
Serbia'.
All this might be perceived as a little local difficulty were it not for
the old Serbo-Germanic antagonisms. The Serbs of Vojvodina will not
forget
the bitter Croatian civil war of 1991-92, or the ethnic cleansing of
more than
200,000 Serbs from the Krajina area of Croatia in August 1995, not least
because tens of thousands of these Serb refugees are now living in
Vojvodina.
Nor can they forget that it was Germany which helped propel Croatia into
civil war in 1991. The then foreign minister in Bonn, Hans Dietrich
Genscher, pressed Britain and other Western European countries to
recognise
Croatia as an independent country even before the government of Franjo
Tudjman had met the usual criteria for independence, such as having
secure
borders and a free press. The Croatian civil war broke out days later.
With presidential elections being held in Yugoslavia in late September,
Serbs are also only too aware that their Prime Minister, Mr Djindjic,
has
closely allied himself with the Germans and is a personal friend of
Chancellor Schroeder. Latest opinion polls for the presidential race put
Mr
Djindjic well down in the field with 8 per cent of support, while the
current Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, and the deputy premier
of
Yugoslavia, Miroljub Labus, have 22 per cent each.
Germany's deepening involvement is just one result of years of
interference
in the Balkans, masquerading as assistance, by Messrs Blair and Clinton
-
and later Bush. Essentially, Yugoslavia was torn apart by a series of
bloody civil wars which have had close parallels with the Northern
Ireland
conflict. There have been vile and dark deeds perpetrated by all - as
well
as innocent victims on all sides, whether Muslim, Croat, Kosovo Albanian
or
Serb.
The West, however, led in large part by Germany, would have us believe
that
all these interventions, which we paid for, were initiated in Croatia,
then
Bosnia and finally Kosovo and Serbia to protect the innocent. And for
the
'innocent', read 'everyone except the Serbs'. To suggest the contrary
is,
of course, to be portrayed as a Serb-loving monster. What the West,
especially Germany, Britain and America, do not want is any close
scrutiny
of the legacy left by the years of 'compassion-based' involvement in the
region. German economic supremacy is only part of the equation.
One of the biggest and best-kept secrets is that Bosnia, far from being
a
settled nation, is now a hotbed of hardline mujahedin. Islamic fighters
from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan went to the republic during
the
civil war of 1992-95 and many are still in the country today. Last
October,
for instance, just weeks after the cataclysm of 11 September, the
British
and American embassies in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, were forced to
close for five days after the building was besieged by angry Muslims
protesting at attempts by Western forces to deport suspected Islamic
terrorists in the region to Cuba.
Kosovo is a mess: the few Serbs still living there have to stay within
tightly guarded enclaves or risk death at the hands of ethnic Albanians
under the very noses of the world's so-called peacekeepers. Last week
about
a dozen UN peacekeepers were hurt when hundreds of ethnic Albanians went
on
the rampage in the town of Decane because the UN had arrested one of
their
number on charges of murder and torture. Such incidents are rarely
covered
by the Western press, and for that politicians in Whitehall and Capitol
Hill must be grateful - the mayhem does not fit the picture of the
Kosovo
success story they would like us all to believe. Huge amounts of heroin
meanwhile reach London via Kosovo; and kidnapped girls are bundled off
to
the brothels of Europe, including Soho, courtesy of Albanian gangs.
In a typical, but little-reported, sign of how the West still treats
Serbia
and Serbs, the US Senate this month threatened to reduce aid to
development
projects in Serbia by the amount spent on similar institutions in
Kosovo,
according to the Serbian deputy prime minister, Nebojsa Covic. So
continued
and increasing German investment is likely to be encouraged by Herr
Schroeder's friend Zoran Djindjic.
Serbian airline passengers have a disconcerting habit of applauding when
their pilot lands the aircraft, almost as if they hardly believe he can
achieve the feat until it is accomplished. If Lufthansa ever does take
over
Yugoslav Airlines, the clapping may become a thing of the past.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old%c2%a7ion=current&issue=2002-08-24&id=2176
***
For more extensive news on international affairs: Targets,
Monthly
Newspaper on International Affairs, invites you to its
newsgroup, where we
provide our readers with regular news on current international
developments. We use different sources and the messages do not
necessarily
reflect our opinion. But because we think they are of value to
have a
profound understanding of the international policy of today, we
post them
for our readers.
Sincerely,
Nico Varkevisser
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***
TARGETS Independent monthly paper on international affairs
Sloterkade 20, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ph. ++ 31 20 615 1122 - Fax: ++ 31 20 615 1120
Da: Targets
A: redactie@...
Oggetto: German invasion in Yugoslavia
German invasion in Yugoslavia
By Eve-Ann Prentice
Belgrade - The Serbian traveller was incandescent at the communist-style
red tape which ensnared him when he went to buy a Yugoslav Airlines
ticket.
'You deserve to be sold off to Lufthansa,' he shouted at the girl behind
the counter.
In a land rich in expletives, that was perhaps not much of an insult,
but
the man at least exposed the growing unease in Yugoslavia over a new
Germanic invasion in the country. What the Austro-Hungarian empire and
then
the Nazis failed to win by force of arms in the first and second world
wars
- supremacy in the Balkans - Germany is now about to achieve by money
and
stealth.
German companies have bought much of the Serbian media, including 50 per
cent of the former pillar of communism, the daily newspaper Politika,
and
taken a stake in TV Kosova, the broadcasting outlet set up by Slobodan
Milosevic's daughter, Marija. Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung has
invested
25 million euros in Politika, and the biggest European publishing house
in
Germany, Grunner & Jahr, has bought 49 per cent of the Belgrade tabloid
Blic. Another German company has expressed interest in buying up the
water
utilities in Montenegro, the mountain republic which with Serbia makes
up
what remains of the Yugoslav federation. This month, the German
government
also decided to donate ten million euros for the reconstruction of
central-heating plants in the cities of Belgrade, Nis and Novi Sad.
On the same day the airline passenger was ranting at Yugoslav Airlines,
a
Serbian doctor looked rueful when I asked him how his eight-year-old son
was faring in English lessons at school. The gynaecologist stroked his
child's head. 'They don't teach them English any more,' he said.
'Instead
he is being taught German.' Add to this the fact that Germany's old
wartime
ally, Croatia, has published a map which inadvertently contains little
nibbles of Serbian territory in the north, and you may understand why
Serbs
are feeling even more paranoid than usual.
In a region where history is never consigned to the dustbin, ancient
hostilities are dusted down almost daily. Old photographs of fathers,
brothers, grandfathers and cousins remind both Serbs and Croats of the
loved ones they lost in the second world war - when the Serbs rescued
British airmen and thousands of Jews from the German and Croatian
fascists
- and later, in the 1990s civil war.
Now new rumblings of discontent can be heard; Vojvodina, the flat,
northern, breadbasket province of Serbia, comprises 60 per cent
Hungarians,
who are showing signs of wanting to go their own way. There is another
Germanic root here: remember the Austro-Hungarian empire?
Vojvodina also borders Croatia, the two territories separated by the
mighty
Danube. But a recently published official map of Croatia showed a
frontier
which encompassed the river and took in nearby Serbian towns and
villages
such as Apatin and Sonta. The Croats said it was just a slip of the pen.
Tensions between Serbs and Hungarians in Vojvodina may come to a head on
1
September, when the town of Subotica commemorates the day that the
Austro-Hungarian Empress Maria Theresa granted it the status of a royal
free town in 1779. Usually, one member from each ethnic group there
receives a merit award each anniversary for outstanding contributions to
society. This year Serbs are angry because none of them will receive an
award, only Croats and Hungarians.
In late July there was a skirmish on the border between Croatia and
Vojvodina when Serb soldiers opened fire too close for comfort to a
boatload of Croatians sailing down the Danube at Backa Palanta. The
Serbian
Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, was forced to apologise, but the Croats
have retorted that saying sorry is not enough. That same weekend, a
former
Serbian television presenter and pop star, Zoran Tomasovic, was at a
family
funeral near the Vojvodina town of Kovilj, when he and his relatives
were
shouted at by roadside vegetable traders and told to 'go back to
Serbia'.
All this might be perceived as a little local difficulty were it not for
the old Serbo-Germanic antagonisms. The Serbs of Vojvodina will not
forget
the bitter Croatian civil war of 1991-92, or the ethnic cleansing of
more than
200,000 Serbs from the Krajina area of Croatia in August 1995, not least
because tens of thousands of these Serb refugees are now living in
Vojvodina.
Nor can they forget that it was Germany which helped propel Croatia into
civil war in 1991. The then foreign minister in Bonn, Hans Dietrich
Genscher, pressed Britain and other Western European countries to
recognise
Croatia as an independent country even before the government of Franjo
Tudjman had met the usual criteria for independence, such as having
secure
borders and a free press. The Croatian civil war broke out days later.
With presidential elections being held in Yugoslavia in late September,
Serbs are also only too aware that their Prime Minister, Mr Djindjic,
has
closely allied himself with the Germans and is a personal friend of
Chancellor Schroeder. Latest opinion polls for the presidential race put
Mr
Djindjic well down in the field with 8 per cent of support, while the
current Yugoslav President, Vojislav Kostunica, and the deputy premier
of
Yugoslavia, Miroljub Labus, have 22 per cent each.
Germany's deepening involvement is just one result of years of
interference
in the Balkans, masquerading as assistance, by Messrs Blair and Clinton
-
and later Bush. Essentially, Yugoslavia was torn apart by a series of
bloody civil wars which have had close parallels with the Northern
Ireland
conflict. There have been vile and dark deeds perpetrated by all - as
well
as innocent victims on all sides, whether Muslim, Croat, Kosovo Albanian
or
Serb.
The West, however, led in large part by Germany, would have us believe
that
all these interventions, which we paid for, were initiated in Croatia,
then
Bosnia and finally Kosovo and Serbia to protect the innocent. And for
the
'innocent', read 'everyone except the Serbs'. To suggest the contrary
is,
of course, to be portrayed as a Serb-loving monster. What the West,
especially Germany, Britain and America, do not want is any close
scrutiny
of the legacy left by the years of 'compassion-based' involvement in the
region. German economic supremacy is only part of the equation.
One of the biggest and best-kept secrets is that Bosnia, far from being
a
settled nation, is now a hotbed of hardline mujahedin. Islamic fighters
from Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan went to the republic during
the
civil war of 1992-95 and many are still in the country today. Last
October,
for instance, just weeks after the cataclysm of 11 September, the
British
and American embassies in the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo, were forced to
close for five days after the building was besieged by angry Muslims
protesting at attempts by Western forces to deport suspected Islamic
terrorists in the region to Cuba.
Kosovo is a mess: the few Serbs still living there have to stay within
tightly guarded enclaves or risk death at the hands of ethnic Albanians
under the very noses of the world's so-called peacekeepers. Last week
about
a dozen UN peacekeepers were hurt when hundreds of ethnic Albanians went
on
the rampage in the town of Decane because the UN had arrested one of
their
number on charges of murder and torture. Such incidents are rarely
covered
by the Western press, and for that politicians in Whitehall and Capitol
Hill must be grateful - the mayhem does not fit the picture of the
Kosovo
success story they would like us all to believe. Huge amounts of heroin
meanwhile reach London via Kosovo; and kidnapped girls are bundled off
to
the brothels of Europe, including Soho, courtesy of Albanian gangs.
In a typical, but little-reported, sign of how the West still treats
Serbia
and Serbs, the US Senate this month threatened to reduce aid to
development
projects in Serbia by the amount spent on similar institutions in
Kosovo,
according to the Serbian deputy prime minister, Nebojsa Covic. So
continued
and increasing German investment is likely to be encouraged by Herr
Schroeder's friend Zoran Djindjic.
Serbian airline passengers have a disconcerting habit of applauding when
their pilot lands the aircraft, almost as if they hardly believe he can
achieve the feat until it is accomplished. If Lufthansa ever does take
over
Yugoslav Airlines, the clapping may become a thing of the past.
http://www.spectator.co.uk/article.php3?table=old%c2%a7ion=current&issue=2002-08-24&id=2176
***
For more extensive news on international affairs: Targets,
Monthly
Newspaper on International Affairs, invites you to its
newsgroup, where we
provide our readers with regular news on current international
developments. We use different sources and the messages do not
necessarily
reflect our opinion. But because we think they are of value to
have a
profound understanding of the international policy of today, we
post them
for our readers.
Sincerely,
Nico Varkevisser
Questo indirizzo email è protetto dagli spambots. È necessario abilitare JavaScript per vederlo.
***
TARGETS Independent monthly paper on international affairs
Sloterkade 20, Amsterdam, The Netherlands
Ph. ++ 31 20 615 1122 - Fax: ++ 31 20 615 1120