Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
Antiwar.com

December 27, 2001

Balkans Christmas - All Year 'Round
Gifts from the Imperial Santa

In America, Christmas is the time for, among other things, exchanging
presents. In the former Yugoslavia - where many celebrate Christmas on
January 7, and others not at all - gifts are usually exchanged on New
Year's Day. But thanks to the great gift of "humanitarian democracy,"
delivered by tens of thousands of Santas in NATO fatigues and their
countless little helpers in politicians' suits, in this part of the
Balkans gift-giving can now last for the entire year.

And since the spirit of giving is also the spirit of sharing, why not
take a look at some of the more notable gifts bestowed upon some of the
most blessed people of the Balkans by their enlightened benefactors and
benevolent hegemons?

BOSNIA

It was very nice of the Empire to remember one of its pet wards of the
past decade. Sure, it was very nice of the United States to actively
step into the war that made headlines for three years, then conjure an
illusion of peace and send thousands of its troops to make it a reality.
But that was years ago, under the previous Emperor. What has the United
States done for the "Bosnians" lately?

Well, for one, its pet court finally came through and declared -
sentencing Serb general Radislav Krstic - that genocide against Bosnian
Muslims really took place.
It is worth noting that the Hague Inquisition (a.k.a. ICTY) never
actually proved the existence of a genocide; but because of what it is,
and because of who pays for it, assertions are considered enough. It may
not seem like much, but Alija Izetbegovic - wartime Muslim leader - is
likely to disagree. The legitimacy of his regime and its wartime conduct
rests solely on the thesis that they were protecting the Muslims from a
Serb genocide.

CROATIA

Speaking of genocide, the story of one that happened some 60 years ago
figures prominently into Croatia's gift this year. With tourist profits
falling in the aftermath of Black September, and the current government
tangled in a web of war crimes scandals that somehow never came to a
conclusion, packages from the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
represented a bright ray of sunshine.

With all its woes, Croatia could hardly afford to cope with the fact
that its Founding Fathers (so to speak) were extremely good at the mass
killing of Serbs and Jews during World War II, when they were
enthusiastic allies of Nazi Germany. Because the US Government-funded
Holocaust Museum seized the physical evidence from the biggest
concentration camp, Jasenovac, from its Serb victims and delivered it to
the Croatian government for safekeeping, Croatia will now have
the freedom to cope with its history at a more convenient time, in a
more convenient manner - if ever.

KOSOVO

Despite the fact that Kosovo Albanians were not granted their dearest
wish this season - otherwise, they would have led this alphabetical list
as "Albania" - they still got a few things from Santa's bag. One of them
is a nice shiny new Assembly, with elections and a President and
Constitution and all, so they can play State under the ever-watchful eye
of the NATO governor, and with his ever-benevolent guidance. They are
supposed to share this wondrous gift with the Serbs, of course, and
some remaining Kosovo Serbs are quite thrilled at the prospect. Others
would be much more appreciative if they could venture out of their
ghettos without the fear of being killed.

Of course, one should not get too ambitious. Just last week, two
Albanians suspected of blowing up a bus full of Serbs in February were
released from jail. The court cited "lack of evidence" and dismissed the
case. With the third suspect mysteriously vanishing from the supposedly
impregnable US fortress-base Bondsteel this summer, and no attempts to
track down the perpetrators and "smoke them out of their holes," it
seems as if blowing up Serbs in Kosovo is neither terrorism, nor a crime
punishable by law. How is that for coal in the stocking?

MACEDONIA

Now Macedonia's gift this year was simply precious. There is no other
way of describing the Treaty of Ohrid, if one is to avoid being labeled
a "hard-line militant nationalist warmonger." For a while it looked as
if Macedonia would have to fight a full-scale war against the Albanian
"liberation army" on vacation from pillaging in Kosovo.

Then, through the merciful intervention of Europe's noted peace activist
Javier Solana and America's honest broker James Pardew, Macedonia was
prevented from making the dreadful mistake of self-defense, which would
have cost its taxpayers millions of dollars for weapons from non-NATO
countries. Instead, the Macedonian government happily accepted
preferential treatment for the Albanians, establishing ethnic quotas and
enforcing bilingualism on the 75% of the population for the sake of the
remaining 25%. Ever since then, things in Macedonia have been just
wonderful - with the exception of some evil nationalist hard-line
warmongers, who simply hate peace.

MONTENEGRO

Montenegro has not been forgotten in this flurry of gift-giving, either.
It may seem to have had a bad year. Milo Djukanovic failed to obtain
approval for secession in the polls this spring. Now the republic's
inhabitants are experiencing power shortages, California-style, in the
midst of a cruel winter. Maybe Djukanovic will tell the
people only independence would bring them back light and warmth? Surely,
as with everything else in the Balkans, the power shortage must be
Serbia's fault?.

On a brighter and warmer note, the money from the US treasury continued
to flow into Djukanovic's pockets even as US diplomats ambiguously
disagreed with his plans for secession.

SERBIA

For someone who has been on the "naughty" list for so many years, Serbia
was simply showered with presents this time around - receiving so many
that its neighbors have grown jealous. One could start with the millions
of dollars the Empire gave to the Serbian opposition to win the 2000
election, but that would technically be ineligible for this year.

Perhaps the greatest gift of the year, then, would be the liberation of
Serbia from the presence of Slobodan Milosevic, the Constitution, its
legal system and much of its dignity - and all at once! Though the aid
money that was promised for Milosevic's head never actually arrived -
prompting plaintive words from Prime Minister Djindjic - there was still
the $5 million bounty. Since he ordered both Milosevic's arrest and
deportation, Djindjic obviously qualifies for the money. Interestingly
enough, there is no record of what actually happened to the bounty.?

There are other generous gifts, too numerous to mention: ICTY
indictments, partially forgiven fabricated loans, generous restorations
of Yugoslav property Serbia had owned to begin with, and so on.

HUMAN RIGHTS

Finally, just before Christmas, the European Court of Human Rights sent
a gift to all lovers of human rights and liberties. Last week it ruled
that NATO could not be judged for killing 16 Serbian TV workers in April
1999. Apparently, NATO did nothing wrong by bombing Serbia, since any
action outside the defendants' territory (i.e. Serbia) is not in the
Court's jurisdiction and is not bound by the European Human Rights
Convention. Serbia, then, is in NATO's territory when it
needs to be bombed, and is outside the territory when the butcher's bill
comes due. For this enlightening clarification of humanitarian law, and
its celebration of universal human rights, we should all give thanks.

Yes, it has been a wonderful year in the Balkans, filled with marvelous
gifts coming straight from the heart. The Empire looks forward to
blessing the benighted Peninsula with even more treasures in the years
to come. Yet in its altruistic benevolence, it asks for nothing in
return save absolute obedience and utter submission.
Surely, this is a small price to pay for such bountiful rewards.

Happy holidays!

===*===

Balkan Express
by Nebojsa Malic
Antiwar.com

January 3, 2002

Operation Enduring Stupidity
The Year That Was

Upon the completion of Earth's revolution around the sun, the only
things that change are the numbers on the calendar. Problems that
existed on December 31st are still there on Jan uary 1st. Stupidity does
not vanish at the stroke of midnight, the way common sense does anywhere
the Empire gets involved.

More to the point, whenever the Empire does get involved, the existing
problems are never solved. Instead, they are treated temporarily, with
nothing more than a band-aid "agreement" or a half-witted "peace
process," and left to fester. When they inevitably erupt again, that -
naturally - calls for more "treatment" by Imperial diplomats, which is
to be financed by Imperial loans, which in turn produce further
problems, and so on, ad infinitum. This is not just the case in the
Balkans, by the way. From Somalia and Afghanistan (the first time) to
Haiti, Argentina and the Middle East, the world is strewn with examples
of Imperial intervention's ongoing consequences.

MANIFEST INSANITY

Recipients (i.e. victims) of this "treatment" create elaborate delusions
of grandeur and suffer frequent bouts of groveling whenever their
Imperial masters are around. A perfect sample case could be Serbia's
Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic.
He has exhibited symptomatic behavior before, and his latest statements
show no sign of recovery.

Three days ago, Djindjic's optimistic, self-congratulatory holiday
message aimed to convince the Serbian population that his government
enjoyed the respect and admiration of the Empire. To this purpose he
employed phrases such as "equal partners," and "driving force of
regional development," which were both misleading and meaningless. The
Empire has no partners, only servants, and it certainly does not care
for regional development - which, again, can hardly be driven by a
nation whose infrastructure was demolished by the Empire's bombs just
three years ago.

No less insane was the holiday message of Montenegro's ruler Milo
Djukanovic, who actually said that "not a single Montenegrin problem can
be resolved without our own Montenegrin state." Given that Montenegro,
under his leadership, already has de facto independence and that its
inhabitants are still fairly miserable, Djukanovic's appeal to
nationalism is disingenuous at best.

MADNESS WITHOUT METHOD

Victims of imperialism also tend to substitute madness for elementary
logic. Normal reactions to certain developments are repressed or even
completely substituted by irrational expressions of submission, no doubt
motivated by the desire to secure the Empire's ever-elusive but
oft-promised affection.

Djindjic's delusional visions would have the Serbs believe their
government is now favored by the Empire. This is no doubt buoyed by a
recent spate of self-serving interference in the debate between Serbia
and Montenegro about the future of Yugoslavia. Indeed, official Belgrade
is not bothering to hide its excitement over the
possibility that the Empire might actually favor its position (or the
position the Empire "persuades" Belgrade to adopt?) over Djukanovic's.

As usual, reality does little to support Djindjic's claims. Instead of
favoring his regime, or even cutting Serbia a break, the Empire
continues to insist on absolute submission to the Hague Inquisition. As
a good vassal, Djindjic is supporting that insistence. He is also trying
to justify it as a price that must be paid for becoming a
province of the EU superstate (something most Serbian politicians
consider a worthy goal! O tempora, o mores!).

Of course, Djindjic might not be entirely delusional. He might say
things he does not really believe, knowing that if he failed to submit,
the Empire could simply stop giving him money needed for his regime's
survival. Or, if he really got out of hand, they could reopen the old
wound in southern Serbia, right along the border of
semi-amputated Kosovo, where Albanians are still "restless." But whether
the Serbian Prime Minister (and the regime for which he stands) is
really schizophrenic, or simply pretending, the end result is the same:
groveling.

POINTS OF DEPARTURE

There is more, of course. When Kosovo's occupying governor Hans
Haekkerup unexpectedly resigned just before the New Year, Kosovo
Albanians by and large hailed the news. They saw both Haekkerup and his
job as obstacles to their goal of an independent, all-Albanian Kosovo.

Now, Haekkerup was a governor of a Serbian province occupied by some
20,000 NATO troops, ethnically cleansed of most Serbs, Jews, Roma and
other non-Albanians - with the remainder living in ghettos surrounded by
barbed wire. It was Haekkerup who engineered an election that gave this
occupation a pretense of legitimacy. However "honest" and "decent" he
may have been, Haekkerup was still a representative of an illegal,
illegitimate occupying authority. Any rational government would have
maintained insistence on ending the occupation as the matter of
principle. The current regime in Belgrade, however, expressed "regret"
at Haekkerup's departure, and the "elected" leader of Kosovo Serbs said
she looked forward to cooperating with the occupiers and their protégés.

Americans' regret over Haekkerup's resignation was at least a polite
fallacy. Certainly someone in Washington will be very happy that the new
interim satrap in Kosovo is an American. But if, after this, the Serbs
still have any respect for their leaders, then perhaps those are the
leaders they deserve.

ALL MY DREAMS, TORN ASUNDER

It is hard to imagine that a year ago the future actually looked better.
The Emperor-designate had spoken about the possibility of withdrawing
from the Balkans, and cutting back on his predecessor's worldwide
warfare in general. There was at least a glimmer of hope that something
good could come out of partisan bickering and a change of faces in
Washington, and that the Empire's crusade in the Balkans might end now
that its power-seeking purpose was accomplished.

2001 was also supposed to be a year of flying cars, colonies on the
Moon, and expeditions to Jupiter turned tragic because of computers gone
haywire. Humans have proven to be perfectly capable of producing
tragedies without the help of artificial intelligence, and much closer
to home. The war fever in the aftermath of Black Tuesday only confirmed
what was obvious a month earlier in Ohrid, Macedonia. Far from being
over, the crusade was just getting started.

As other parts of the world are being pulverized, driven to a killing
frenzy or drowned in delusions, the Balkans continues to undergo a
seemingly unending collective lobotomy at the hands of Imperial
surgeons. How much longer before the admittedly flawed denizens of the
Peninsula become permanently corrupted into a more hideous form of
existence?

NO WAY OUT?

There is always hope, of course. As with any disease, only after the
proper diagnosis can one come up with a cure. At the root of the
Empire's success is a common ailment of the human mind, a misguided
belief that problems of the Society can only be solved by the State.
From there it follows that problems that confound the
state can only be solved by a more powerful state, i.e. the Empire.
Formerly known as Communism or Fascism, depending on symptoms, this
ailment is more properly described as Tyrannical Statism and commonly
misdiagnosed as Democracy.

Obviously, problems cannot be solved by the reasoning responsible for
creating them. Things can change - for better or worse, but change -
only if this dangerous mindset is replaced with even the tiniest bit of
rational, principled thinking. For stupidity endures the test of time,
but not the test of reason.