[chi fosse in grado di tradurre questo articolo con estrema urgenza e'
pregato di contattarci: jugocoord@...]
Subject: The Quisling Of Belgrade
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 22:26:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Rick Rozoff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,913918,00.html
The quisling of Belgrade
The murdered Serbian prime minister was a reviled
western stooge whose economic reforms brought misery
Neil Clark
Friday March 14, 2003
The Guardian
-[T]here is evidence that underworld groups,
controlled by Zoran Djindjic and linked to US
intelligence, carried out a series of assassinations
of key supporters of the Milosevic regime, including
Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic and Zika Petrovic,
head of Yugoslav Airlines.
-When a man has sold his country's assets, its
ex-president and his main political rivals, what else
is there to sell? Only the country itself.
-The lesson from Serbia for today's serial regime
changers is a simple one. You can try to subjugate a
people by sanctions, subversion and bombs. You can, if
you wish, overthrow governments you dislike and seek
to impose your will by installing a Hamid Karzai,
General Tommy Franks or a Zoran Djindjic to act as
imperial consul. But do not imagine that you can then
force a humiliated people to pay homage to them.
Tributes to Zoran Djindjic, the assassinated prime
minister of Serbia, have been pouring in. President
Bush led the way, praising his "strong leadership",
while the Canadian government's spokesman extolled a
"heralder of democracy" and Tony Blair spoke of the
energy Djindjic had devoted to "reforming Serbia".
In western newspaper obituaries Djindjic has been
almost universally acclaimed as an ex-student
agititator who bravely led a popular uprising against
a tyrannical dictator and endeavoured to steer his
country into a new democratic era.
But beyond the CNN version of world history, the
career of Zoran Djindjic looks rather different. Those
who rail against the doctrine of regime change should
remember that Iraq is far from being the first country
where the US and other western governments have tried
to engineer the removal of a government that did not
suit their strategic interests. Three years ago it was
the turn of Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia.
In his recent biography of Milosevic, Adam LeBor
reveals how the US poured $70m into the coffers of the
Serb opposition in its efforts to oust the Yugoslav
leader in 2000. On the orders of Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, a covert US Office of Yugoslav
Affairs was set up to help organise the uprising that
would sweep the autocratic Milosevic from power.
At the same time, there is evidence that underworld
groups, controlled by Zoran Djindjic and linked to US
intelligence, carried out a series of assassinations
of key supporters of the Milosevic regime, including
Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic and Zika Petrovic,
head of Yugoslav Airlines.
With Slobo and his socialist party finally toppled,
the US got the "reforming" government in Belgrade it
desired. The new President Vojislav Kostunica received
the bouquets, but it was the State Department's man,
Zoran Djindjic, who held the levers of power - and he
certainly did not let his Washington sponsors down.
The first priority was to embark on a programme of
"economic reform" - new-world-order-speak for the
selling of state assets at knockdown prices to western
multinationals. Over 700,000 Yugoslav enterprises
remained in social ownership and most were still
controlled by employee-management committees, with
only 5% of capital privately owned. Companies could
only be sold if 60% of the shares were allocated to
workers.
Djindjic moved swiftly to change the law and the great
sell-off could now begin. After two years in which
thousands of socially owned enterprises have been sold
(many to companies from countries which took part in
the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia), last month's World
Bank report was lavish in its praise of the Djindjic
government and its "engagement of international banks
in the privatisation process".
But it wasn't just state assets that Djindjic was
under orders to sell. Milosevic had to go too, for a
promised $100m, even if it effectively meant
kidnapping him in contravention of Yugoslav law, and
sending him by RAF jet to a US-financed show trial at
the Hague. When a man has sold his country's assets,
its ex-president and his main political rivals, what
else is there to sell? Only the country itself. And in
January this year Djindjic did just that. Despite the
opposition of most of its citizens, the "heralder of
democracy" followed the requirements of the
"international community" and after 74 years the name
of Yugoslavia disappeared off the political map. The
strategic goal of its replacement with a series of
weak and divided protectorates had finally been
achieved.
Sometimes, though, even the best executed plans go
awry. Despite the western eulogies, Djindjic will be
mourned by few in Serbia. For the great majority of
Serbs, he will be remembered as a quisling who
enriched himself by selling his country to those who
had waged war against it so mercilessly only a few
years earlier. Djindjic's much lauded reforms have led
to soaring utility prices, unemployment has risen
sharply to over 30%, real wages have fallen by up to
20% and over two-thirds of Serbs now live below the
poverty line.
It is still unclear who fired the shots that killed
Zoran Djindjic. The likelihood is that it was an
underworld operation, his links to organised crime
finally catching up with him. But, harsh though it
sounds, there are many in Serbia who would willingly
have pulled the trigger. On a recent visit to
Belgrade, I was struck not only by the level of
economic hardship, but by the hatred almost everyone I
met felt towards their prime minister, whose poll
ratings had fallen below 10%.
The lesson from Serbia for today's serial regime
changers is a simple one. You can try to subjugate a
people by sanctions, subversion and bombs. You can, if
you wish, overthrow governments you dislike and seek
to impose your will by installing a Hamid Karzai,
General Tommy Franks or a Zoran Djindjic to act as
imperial consul. But do not imagine that you can then
force a humiliated people to pay homage to them.
· Neil Clark is writing a book about the recent
history of Yugoslavia
neil.clark@...
pregato di contattarci: jugocoord@...]
Subject: The Quisling Of Belgrade
Date: Thu, 13 Mar 2003 22:26:46 -0800 (PST)
From: Rick Rozoff
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,913918,00.html
The quisling of Belgrade
The murdered Serbian prime minister was a reviled
western stooge whose economic reforms brought misery
Neil Clark
Friday March 14, 2003
The Guardian
-[T]here is evidence that underworld groups,
controlled by Zoran Djindjic and linked to US
intelligence, carried out a series of assassinations
of key supporters of the Milosevic regime, including
Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic and Zika Petrovic,
head of Yugoslav Airlines.
-When a man has sold his country's assets, its
ex-president and his main political rivals, what else
is there to sell? Only the country itself.
-The lesson from Serbia for today's serial regime
changers is a simple one. You can try to subjugate a
people by sanctions, subversion and bombs. You can, if
you wish, overthrow governments you dislike and seek
to impose your will by installing a Hamid Karzai,
General Tommy Franks or a Zoran Djindjic to act as
imperial consul. But do not imagine that you can then
force a humiliated people to pay homage to them.
Tributes to Zoran Djindjic, the assassinated prime
minister of Serbia, have been pouring in. President
Bush led the way, praising his "strong leadership",
while the Canadian government's spokesman extolled a
"heralder of democracy" and Tony Blair spoke of the
energy Djindjic had devoted to "reforming Serbia".
In western newspaper obituaries Djindjic has been
almost universally acclaimed as an ex-student
agititator who bravely led a popular uprising against
a tyrannical dictator and endeavoured to steer his
country into a new democratic era.
But beyond the CNN version of world history, the
career of Zoran Djindjic looks rather different. Those
who rail against the doctrine of regime change should
remember that Iraq is far from being the first country
where the US and other western governments have tried
to engineer the removal of a government that did not
suit their strategic interests. Three years ago it was
the turn of Slobodan Milosevic's Yugoslavia.
In his recent biography of Milosevic, Adam LeBor
reveals how the US poured $70m into the coffers of the
Serb opposition in its efforts to oust the Yugoslav
leader in 2000. On the orders of Secretary of State
Madeleine Albright, a covert US Office of Yugoslav
Affairs was set up to help organise the uprising that
would sweep the autocratic Milosevic from power.
At the same time, there is evidence that underworld
groups, controlled by Zoran Djindjic and linked to US
intelligence, carried out a series of assassinations
of key supporters of the Milosevic regime, including
Defence Minister Pavle Bulatovic and Zika Petrovic,
head of Yugoslav Airlines.
With Slobo and his socialist party finally toppled,
the US got the "reforming" government in Belgrade it
desired. The new President Vojislav Kostunica received
the bouquets, but it was the State Department's man,
Zoran Djindjic, who held the levers of power - and he
certainly did not let his Washington sponsors down.
The first priority was to embark on a programme of
"economic reform" - new-world-order-speak for the
selling of state assets at knockdown prices to western
multinationals. Over 700,000 Yugoslav enterprises
remained in social ownership and most were still
controlled by employee-management committees, with
only 5% of capital privately owned. Companies could
only be sold if 60% of the shares were allocated to
workers.
Djindjic moved swiftly to change the law and the great
sell-off could now begin. After two years in which
thousands of socially owned enterprises have been sold
(many to companies from countries which took part in
the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia), last month's World
Bank report was lavish in its praise of the Djindjic
government and its "engagement of international banks
in the privatisation process".
But it wasn't just state assets that Djindjic was
under orders to sell. Milosevic had to go too, for a
promised $100m, even if it effectively meant
kidnapping him in contravention of Yugoslav law, and
sending him by RAF jet to a US-financed show trial at
the Hague. When a man has sold his country's assets,
its ex-president and his main political rivals, what
else is there to sell? Only the country itself. And in
January this year Djindjic did just that. Despite the
opposition of most of its citizens, the "heralder of
democracy" followed the requirements of the
"international community" and after 74 years the name
of Yugoslavia disappeared off the political map. The
strategic goal of its replacement with a series of
weak and divided protectorates had finally been
achieved.
Sometimes, though, even the best executed plans go
awry. Despite the western eulogies, Djindjic will be
mourned by few in Serbia. For the great majority of
Serbs, he will be remembered as a quisling who
enriched himself by selling his country to those who
had waged war against it so mercilessly only a few
years earlier. Djindjic's much lauded reforms have led
to soaring utility prices, unemployment has risen
sharply to over 30%, real wages have fallen by up to
20% and over two-thirds of Serbs now live below the
poverty line.
It is still unclear who fired the shots that killed
Zoran Djindjic. The likelihood is that it was an
underworld operation, his links to organised crime
finally catching up with him. But, harsh though it
sounds, there are many in Serbia who would willingly
have pulled the trigger. On a recent visit to
Belgrade, I was struck not only by the level of
economic hardship, but by the hatred almost everyone I
met felt towards their prime minister, whose poll
ratings had fallen below 10%.
The lesson from Serbia for today's serial regime
changers is a simple one. You can try to subjugate a
people by sanctions, subversion and bombs. You can, if
you wish, overthrow governments you dislike and seek
to impose your will by installing a Hamid Karzai,
General Tommy Franks or a Zoran Djindjic to act as
imperial consul. But do not imagine that you can then
force a humiliated people to pay homage to them.
· Neil Clark is writing a book about the recent
history of Yugoslavia
neil.clark@...