Subject: WHAT THE US IS ACTUALLY AFTER IN YUGOSLAVIA?
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 00:28:44 EST
From: Pelkinsin@...
For Your Information and Contemplation.
Tika Jankovic
Part II
7. Badguys and Quislings
Professor Vukotic is the brains behind the secession of Montenegro.
His
former student, Milo Djukanovic, is the President of Montenegro.
Djukanovic
employed the good professor to hasten the privatization of state
property in
Montenegro. He was ubiquitous; Professor Vukotic marched into Kosovo
with
NATO forces in June 1999, at the height of Kosovar expulsions of ethnic
Serbs
and Gypsies (ROM) (who are by now 90% ethnically cleansed from the
province.)
(NATO remains mum about that.)
The IMF sent another G 17 member, Dr. Zeliko Bogetic, who oversaw
the
transition to capitalism in Bulgaria, to Montenegro. Recently, following
Bogetic's advice, Montenegro adopted the Deutchmark as its currency,
placing
the province, which claims to desire independence, in the hands of its
creditors. Dr. Bogetic is in line to become the director of Yugoslavia's
Central Bank. Yugoslavia would cease to be an economically sovereign
entity
if Dr. Bogetic follows the same policies in Belgrade as he did in
Montenegro.
29
Veselin Vukotic was on the "News Hour" with Jim Lehrer, on Public
television,
on Bastille Day, 1999 and said, "We want to be an open colony and an
open
society."
Although the West reassured Kostunica and his supporters that
Montenegro
and Kosovo were to remain Yugoslav provinces, powerful forces in the
United
States have other ideas.
Morton Abromowitz was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence
and
Research in the Reagan administration. I'm sure we'll see more of him
under
George W. He supported the arming of the Afghan Mujahaddin that served
to
discredit and destabilize the Soviet Union in the 1980s. He was part of
the
Council on Foreign Relations panel that advised the Clinton
administration
to
loosen restrictions on CIA operations dealing with criminals, using
journalists, and targeting unfriendly heads of state. He now works for a
right-wing think tank called The Century Foundation." In a recent
Washington
Post op ed. piece Mr. Abromowitz asserted, "the federal republic is
Serbia.
After the December 23rd elections-which should produce a government free
of
Mr. Milosovic's flunkies- fresh talks can be held between Montenegro and
Serbia." Abromowitz later in the article urged, "Effective management
of
Kosovo's own affairs . . . Prospects . . . would be better if the west
stopped encouraging Belgrade to believe it still has a future in ruling
Kosovo." 30
That is the future Kostunica faces: Yugoslavia, its people
impoverished
and trapped in an IMF/World Bank straightjacket, pared down to Serbia,
with
incursions on its territories encouraged and protected by NATO. With
Montenegro gone, it will become land-locked. It will be a Yugoslavia
forced
to borrow money to pay for the destruction of NATO bombings, and
finally,
faced with the decimation of its once productive economy.
And who is waiting in the wings? Every western corporations who see
"crucial assets for sale, includ(ing)the huge tobacco factory in Nis,
electric, oil, and gas companies, cement factories, and the government's
51%
stake in Telecom Srbja." McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Heineken are all
salivating
at
the prospects of investment and trade. Milan Panic, tossed out by
Milosovic,
is back at his old pharmaceutical company, which was nationalized by
Milosovic. 31
8. What is Vojislav Kostunica, really?
At the Serb Unity Congress in Toronto in October, the victory of
Kostunica was greeted with joy and celebration. But who is this fellow,
this
professor of law, this so-called leader of the Democratic Opposition of
Serbia?
Kostunica is a pathetic creature. In October he visited Republika
Srpska
in Bosnia. This Serbian enclave is the 49% of the land the Serbs were
allowed to keep in Bosnia after the war. The United States Institute of
Peace, closely associated with the likes of Madeline Albright, Jamie
Rubin,
and Richard Holbrooke, in their most recent publication urged that,
"Serbia
(under Kostunica) should end support to all political forces in Bosnia.
.
.and should recognize Bosnia's territorial integrity," and "the European
Union should . . . make the country a single economic space. . . with a
single integrated (intelligence and military) command." 32 Several
weeks
after Kostunica's visit, James Cunningham, deputy US representative to
the
United Nations rejected the election of candidates from the Serb
Democratic
Party in Republika Srpska saying "obstructionists should be kept out of
government." 33 .
(This was kind of funny since the Gore campaign was saying the same
thing
about the Bush "victory" in Florida.)
Kostunica is constrained by his financial supporters to "recognize
Bosnian sovereignty." And "conditional independence for Kosovo."34 But
there
was Vojislav, visiting the grave of a Yugoslav poet on his way to a
meeting
in Biarritz, France, at the European summit.
Greeted with cheers and congratulations in France, Kostunica was
the
man
of the hour. But his "welcome to the European family", was tempered with
the
knowledge that he was the front man for another more sinister fellow by
the
name of Zoran Djindjic. It is he who will probably become Prime Minister
of
Serbia 35 , and he who united the many dissident groups and managed
Kostunica's campaign, under the watchful eye of Madeline Albright. He
was a
founder of the Yugoslav Democratic Party, and worked for many years to
end
socialism in his own country.36 Djindjic is prepared to sink Yugoslavia
under the indebtedness of its previous IMF loans, which amount to $128
million, and a World Bank debt of $1.7 billion.37
But Djindjic, the G-17, OTPOR, D.O.S., all these shady characters,
including Kostunica, are just marionettes. The puppeteers reside
elsewhere,
in Washington and Bonn predominantly, pulling the strings, dismantling
what
is left of Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosovic is down, but not out, having
just
been elected to lead the Socialist party. And the West fears that the
upcoming December 23rd elections might go well for the Socialists. After
all,
the IMF and World Bank have been voted out of Yugoslavia before.
9. What are the Prospects for the Future?
It is instructive to look at another country for a moment, the
Republic
of Belarus. No sooner had Slobodan Milosovic been dispatched, the US
and
the
European press began another assault, this time on Alexander Lukashenko
as
Europe's last Communist-style leader." 38 Belarus is facing the same
kinds
of
so called "nationalist" opposition that Yugoslavia faced. "Lukashenko's
security forces were gearing up to meet "provocations" by "foreign
agents"
with "Harsh measures,"39 reported the Boston Globe. The State
Department,
commenting on a recent election called it, "undemocratic." And
Lukashenko,
who swept to power in a landslide in 1994, said, "We have our own way to
travel."
That way includes his appreciation for Fidel Castro whom he visited
in
September, calling Castro, "a legendary figure."40 That way includes
opposition to loans from the International Monetary Fund, and proposing
to
Russia to build a large force in Belarus to defend against NATO.41 The
Belarus way is a socialist economy under which unemployment is 1.7%,
hunger
is non-existent, though everyone is poor, and the wage gap between rich
and
poor is nothing like that found in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, or the
Ukraine.
Education and medical care are still free, and cultural events are low
priced. 42
So here is another Yugoslavia in the making. Only this time we need
to
be
ready to counter the attacks of those who will swear up and down that
this
"dictator" has to go because he is so ruthless. Because if we say
nothing,
NATO forces, which are already in former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Albania,
Azerbajan, Czech Republic . . . will move east to counter the "threat"
of
another leader who dares to oppose the International Monetary Fund, NATO
and
"democratic liberal economic reforms."
10. What it is Really All About
When we read the economic news lately, we worry that the economic
"boom"
(which has really been good for only the top 20 percent of the
population,)
is about to end. My late husband, Sean Gervasi wrote a document, five
months
before he died in 1996, which was published in the book, NATO in the
Balkans
and disseminated widely in Europe (as the Prague Declaration). It was
called, "Why is NATO in Yugoslavia," and in his brilliant prescience, he
noted, "the Western system is experiencing a profound economic, social,
and
political crisis, . . . and sees the exploitation of the East as the
only
large scale project which might stimulate growth. . ." And he asked,
"will
the world accept the risks of East-West conflict and nuclear war" to
protect
this system?43
Sean was warning about a war for resources, a war for markets, a war
between Europe and America. Russia opposes NATO expansion. Germany, as
the
most powerful economy of the European Union is both coactive and
dangerously
competitive with Washington for power in the East. In 1996, Volker Ruhe,
German Defense Minister said, "Bonn is not counting on remaining number
two
forever."44 Reading recent articles about the European Union's
development
of
a large military strike force, Germany's financial dominance in Western
and
Eastern Europe, and German statements that are aggressive in tone,
remind us
of history. They remind us that this is a perilous world, a world of
nuclear
powers, and a world which is now facing the final race for resources.
And that is what this has always been about. The west has used
revanchist
nationalists as their pawns. The American and German strategy has been
to
splinter existing nations, demonize states which oppose the "Grand
Plan,"
and
support pro-capitalist forces. The purpose of this military, ideological
and
economic onslaught is to secure the exploitation of the East, with the
incredible natural resources including the cheap (and desperate) labor
of
the
Eurasian continent. But Germany and the United States are rivals for all
of
this. And inter-imperial rivalry means war. It always has.
Russia alone has $28 trillion dollars worth of resources!
Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, plus Russian Astrakhan have oil
and
gas. In these regions, Islam is the major religion. In these republics,
the
United States is once again supporting reactionary Islamic
Fundamentalist
nationalists just as they did in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Albania, Bosnia,
and
Kosovo.
In his book, The Grand Chessboard, Zbigniew Brzezinski spoke of a
long-term strategy for Eurasia. He urged the United States to establish
"global hegemony," and warned that there were only ten to 20 years to
take
control "before the door is closed."45 Brzezinski wrote of controlling
the
Eurasian corridor, from . . . the Balkans to Xinjiang and Tibet. Sean
Gervasi, a few days before he died, said that the US would try to push
NATO
all the way to China.
On November 19, 2000, a New York Times article on Xinjiang Province
in
western China described the Uighurs, a "Muslim majority (which) lives
restively under Chinese rule. " They "are well versed in the NATO
bombing
of
Yugoslavia last year which some celebrate for liberating the Muslims in
Kosovo; they fantasize about a similar 'rescue' here." 46 In last
week's
Times Magazine, the recipe for Xinjiang cabbage salad contained some
very
interesting information rarely found in most recipes, and NOT found in
the
news story from November 19th. "Recent discoveries of oil have made
Xinjiang
extremely attractive to international trade", it noted while comparing
the
conditions for its indigenous population to those in Tibet. (We are all
familiar with the Western media campaign to delegitimize China's control
over
Tibet, the recipe even alludes to the Richard Gere movie which swayed
filmgoers against the policies of the Peoples Republic of China in
Tibet).
The recipe cites Amnesty International's report on the Chinese
mistreatment
of Xinjiang's Moslem majority, and then advises cooks to buy Sichuan
peppers
for the recipe which "numb your tongue."47
11. What can we do?
Our tongues are not numb. Our eyes can see. Our minds are clearing.
This
is a moment for the Peace Movement to surge back into existence. With
the
international perspective of those who understand the political,
economic,
and military nature of these issues along with the tremendous vitality
of
the
ew generation of anti World Trade Organizations-, anti-IMF/World Bank
activists, I believe we are on the brink of a new and extraordinarily
vital
movement. And we are not alone, because these truths are clear to people
throughout the entire world.
Yugoslavia has been our teacher on American millennial treachery in
Eastern Europe, much as Vietnam was our textbook on 20th Century
American
foreign policy in the Third World. But the Vietnamese won their
confrontation
with the US and Yugoslavs- and the Serbs as a people- appear to have
lost.
The fall of Yugoslavia happened in part because the Peace Movement was
manipulated and misguided, and people thought that US foreign policy
could
be
benevolent. That was a big mistake.
The 21st Century may seem to be the zenith for American world
domination, but the contradictions within this system are too great, and
the
lies are just too transparent. Courageous people, need to join together
to
understand and counter this menace to the human race. Time is of the
essence.
Date: Mon, 18 Dec 2000 00:28:44 EST
From: Pelkinsin@...
For Your Information and Contemplation.
Tika Jankovic
Part II
7. Badguys and Quislings
Professor Vukotic is the brains behind the secession of Montenegro.
His
former student, Milo Djukanovic, is the President of Montenegro.
Djukanovic
employed the good professor to hasten the privatization of state
property in
Montenegro. He was ubiquitous; Professor Vukotic marched into Kosovo
with
NATO forces in June 1999, at the height of Kosovar expulsions of ethnic
Serbs
and Gypsies (ROM) (who are by now 90% ethnically cleansed from the
province.)
(NATO remains mum about that.)
The IMF sent another G 17 member, Dr. Zeliko Bogetic, who oversaw
the
transition to capitalism in Bulgaria, to Montenegro. Recently, following
Bogetic's advice, Montenegro adopted the Deutchmark as its currency,
placing
the province, which claims to desire independence, in the hands of its
creditors. Dr. Bogetic is in line to become the director of Yugoslavia's
Central Bank. Yugoslavia would cease to be an economically sovereign
entity
if Dr. Bogetic follows the same policies in Belgrade as he did in
Montenegro.
29
Veselin Vukotic was on the "News Hour" with Jim Lehrer, on Public
television,
on Bastille Day, 1999 and said, "We want to be an open colony and an
open
society."
Although the West reassured Kostunica and his supporters that
Montenegro
and Kosovo were to remain Yugoslav provinces, powerful forces in the
United
States have other ideas.
Morton Abromowitz was Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence
and
Research in the Reagan administration. I'm sure we'll see more of him
under
George W. He supported the arming of the Afghan Mujahaddin that served
to
discredit and destabilize the Soviet Union in the 1980s. He was part of
the
Council on Foreign Relations panel that advised the Clinton
administration
to
loosen restrictions on CIA operations dealing with criminals, using
journalists, and targeting unfriendly heads of state. He now works for a
right-wing think tank called The Century Foundation." In a recent
Washington
Post op ed. piece Mr. Abromowitz asserted, "the federal republic is
Serbia.
After the December 23rd elections-which should produce a government free
of
Mr. Milosovic's flunkies- fresh talks can be held between Montenegro and
Serbia." Abromowitz later in the article urged, "Effective management
of
Kosovo's own affairs . . . Prospects . . . would be better if the west
stopped encouraging Belgrade to believe it still has a future in ruling
Kosovo." 30
That is the future Kostunica faces: Yugoslavia, its people
impoverished
and trapped in an IMF/World Bank straightjacket, pared down to Serbia,
with
incursions on its territories encouraged and protected by NATO. With
Montenegro gone, it will become land-locked. It will be a Yugoslavia
forced
to borrow money to pay for the destruction of NATO bombings, and
finally,
faced with the decimation of its once productive economy.
And who is waiting in the wings? Every western corporations who see
"crucial assets for sale, includ(ing)the huge tobacco factory in Nis,
electric, oil, and gas companies, cement factories, and the government's
51%
stake in Telecom Srbja." McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Heineken are all
salivating
at
the prospects of investment and trade. Milan Panic, tossed out by
Milosovic,
is back at his old pharmaceutical company, which was nationalized by
Milosovic. 31
8. What is Vojislav Kostunica, really?
At the Serb Unity Congress in Toronto in October, the victory of
Kostunica was greeted with joy and celebration. But who is this fellow,
this
professor of law, this so-called leader of the Democratic Opposition of
Serbia?
Kostunica is a pathetic creature. In October he visited Republika
Srpska
in Bosnia. This Serbian enclave is the 49% of the land the Serbs were
allowed to keep in Bosnia after the war. The United States Institute of
Peace, closely associated with the likes of Madeline Albright, Jamie
Rubin,
and Richard Holbrooke, in their most recent publication urged that,
"Serbia
(under Kostunica) should end support to all political forces in Bosnia.
.
.and should recognize Bosnia's territorial integrity," and "the European
Union should . . . make the country a single economic space. . . with a
single integrated (intelligence and military) command." 32 Several
weeks
after Kostunica's visit, James Cunningham, deputy US representative to
the
United Nations rejected the election of candidates from the Serb
Democratic
Party in Republika Srpska saying "obstructionists should be kept out of
government." 33 .
(This was kind of funny since the Gore campaign was saying the same
thing
about the Bush "victory" in Florida.)
Kostunica is constrained by his financial supporters to "recognize
Bosnian sovereignty." And "conditional independence for Kosovo."34 But
there
was Vojislav, visiting the grave of a Yugoslav poet on his way to a
meeting
in Biarritz, France, at the European summit.
Greeted with cheers and congratulations in France, Kostunica was
the
man
of the hour. But his "welcome to the European family", was tempered with
the
knowledge that he was the front man for another more sinister fellow by
the
name of Zoran Djindjic. It is he who will probably become Prime Minister
of
Serbia 35 , and he who united the many dissident groups and managed
Kostunica's campaign, under the watchful eye of Madeline Albright. He
was a
founder of the Yugoslav Democratic Party, and worked for many years to
end
socialism in his own country.36 Djindjic is prepared to sink Yugoslavia
under the indebtedness of its previous IMF loans, which amount to $128
million, and a World Bank debt of $1.7 billion.37
But Djindjic, the G-17, OTPOR, D.O.S., all these shady characters,
including Kostunica, are just marionettes. The puppeteers reside
elsewhere,
in Washington and Bonn predominantly, pulling the strings, dismantling
what
is left of Yugoslavia. Slobodan Milosovic is down, but not out, having
just
been elected to lead the Socialist party. And the West fears that the
upcoming December 23rd elections might go well for the Socialists. After
all,
the IMF and World Bank have been voted out of Yugoslavia before.
9. What are the Prospects for the Future?
It is instructive to look at another country for a moment, the
Republic
of Belarus. No sooner had Slobodan Milosovic been dispatched, the US
and
the
European press began another assault, this time on Alexander Lukashenko
as
Europe's last Communist-style leader." 38 Belarus is facing the same
kinds
of
so called "nationalist" opposition that Yugoslavia faced. "Lukashenko's
security forces were gearing up to meet "provocations" by "foreign
agents"
with "Harsh measures,"39 reported the Boston Globe. The State
Department,
commenting on a recent election called it, "undemocratic." And
Lukashenko,
who swept to power in a landslide in 1994, said, "We have our own way to
travel."
That way includes his appreciation for Fidel Castro whom he visited
in
September, calling Castro, "a legendary figure."40 That way includes
opposition to loans from the International Monetary Fund, and proposing
to
Russia to build a large force in Belarus to defend against NATO.41 The
Belarus way is a socialist economy under which unemployment is 1.7%,
hunger
is non-existent, though everyone is poor, and the wage gap between rich
and
poor is nothing like that found in Russia, Bulgaria, Romania, or the
Ukraine.
Education and medical care are still free, and cultural events are low
priced. 42
So here is another Yugoslavia in the making. Only this time we need
to
be
ready to counter the attacks of those who will swear up and down that
this
"dictator" has to go because he is so ruthless. Because if we say
nothing,
NATO forces, which are already in former Yugoslavia, Hungary, Albania,
Azerbajan, Czech Republic . . . will move east to counter the "threat"
of
another leader who dares to oppose the International Monetary Fund, NATO
and
"democratic liberal economic reforms."
10. What it is Really All About
When we read the economic news lately, we worry that the economic
"boom"
(which has really been good for only the top 20 percent of the
population,)
is about to end. My late husband, Sean Gervasi wrote a document, five
months
before he died in 1996, which was published in the book, NATO in the
Balkans
and disseminated widely in Europe (as the Prague Declaration). It was
called, "Why is NATO in Yugoslavia," and in his brilliant prescience, he
noted, "the Western system is experiencing a profound economic, social,
and
political crisis, . . . and sees the exploitation of the East as the
only
large scale project which might stimulate growth. . ." And he asked,
"will
the world accept the risks of East-West conflict and nuclear war" to
protect
this system?43
Sean was warning about a war for resources, a war for markets, a war
between Europe and America. Russia opposes NATO expansion. Germany, as
the
most powerful economy of the European Union is both coactive and
dangerously
competitive with Washington for power in the East. In 1996, Volker Ruhe,
German Defense Minister said, "Bonn is not counting on remaining number
two
forever."44 Reading recent articles about the European Union's
development
of
a large military strike force, Germany's financial dominance in Western
and
Eastern Europe, and German statements that are aggressive in tone,
remind us
of history. They remind us that this is a perilous world, a world of
nuclear
powers, and a world which is now facing the final race for resources.
And that is what this has always been about. The west has used
revanchist
nationalists as their pawns. The American and German strategy has been
to
splinter existing nations, demonize states which oppose the "Grand
Plan,"
and
support pro-capitalist forces. The purpose of this military, ideological
and
economic onslaught is to secure the exploitation of the East, with the
incredible natural resources including the cheap (and desperate) labor
of
the
Eurasian continent. But Germany and the United States are rivals for all
of
this. And inter-imperial rivalry means war. It always has.
Russia alone has $28 trillion dollars worth of resources!
Azerbaijan,
Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, plus Russian Astrakhan have oil
and
gas. In these regions, Islam is the major religion. In these republics,
the
United States is once again supporting reactionary Islamic
Fundamentalist
nationalists just as they did in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Albania, Bosnia,
and
Kosovo.
In his book, The Grand Chessboard, Zbigniew Brzezinski spoke of a
long-term strategy for Eurasia. He urged the United States to establish
"global hegemony," and warned that there were only ten to 20 years to
take
control "before the door is closed."45 Brzezinski wrote of controlling
the
Eurasian corridor, from . . . the Balkans to Xinjiang and Tibet. Sean
Gervasi, a few days before he died, said that the US would try to push
NATO
all the way to China.
On November 19, 2000, a New York Times article on Xinjiang Province
in
western China described the Uighurs, a "Muslim majority (which) lives
restively under Chinese rule. " They "are well versed in the NATO
bombing
of
Yugoslavia last year which some celebrate for liberating the Muslims in
Kosovo; they fantasize about a similar 'rescue' here." 46 In last
week's
Times Magazine, the recipe for Xinjiang cabbage salad contained some
very
interesting information rarely found in most recipes, and NOT found in
the
news story from November 19th. "Recent discoveries of oil have made
Xinjiang
extremely attractive to international trade", it noted while comparing
the
conditions for its indigenous population to those in Tibet. (We are all
familiar with the Western media campaign to delegitimize China's control
over
Tibet, the recipe even alludes to the Richard Gere movie which swayed
filmgoers against the policies of the Peoples Republic of China in
Tibet).
The recipe cites Amnesty International's report on the Chinese
mistreatment
of Xinjiang's Moslem majority, and then advises cooks to buy Sichuan
peppers
for the recipe which "numb your tongue."47
11. What can we do?
Our tongues are not numb. Our eyes can see. Our minds are clearing.
This
is a moment for the Peace Movement to surge back into existence. With
the
international perspective of those who understand the political,
economic,
and military nature of these issues along with the tremendous vitality
of
the
ew generation of anti World Trade Organizations-, anti-IMF/World Bank
activists, I believe we are on the brink of a new and extraordinarily
vital
movement. And we are not alone, because these truths are clear to people
throughout the entire world.
Yugoslavia has been our teacher on American millennial treachery in
Eastern Europe, much as Vietnam was our textbook on 20th Century
American
foreign policy in the Third World. But the Vietnamese won their
confrontation
with the US and Yugoslavs- and the Serbs as a people- appear to have
lost.
The fall of Yugoslavia happened in part because the Peace Movement was
manipulated and misguided, and people thought that US foreign policy
could
be
benevolent. That was a big mistake.
The 21st Century may seem to be the zenith for American world
domination, but the contradictions within this system are too great, and
the
lies are just too transparent. Courageous people, need to join together
to
understand and counter this menace to the human race. Time is of the
essence.