Fallouts from NATO bombings

by Vic Williams

Peter Gowan sums up some of the effects of the Yugoslav war on European 
countries in his article "The Twilight of the European Project" in 
CounterPunch. CounterPunch, published in the US, is a project 
of the Institute for the Advancement of Journalistic Clarity. The article 
goes beyond the effects, dealing with US aims in Europe and globally.

The European Project was to reconstruct the political order on a norm-based 
political system. The main interest of France and Germany in the Balkans 
was to have strong and stable enough states to keep the impoverished 
populations firmly in place.

Italy had a flood of refugees from Albania in 1997, and then set out to 
help build a stable Albanian Government. These countries wanted to cage 
Albanian refugees in the Balkans.

During 1998 the western European powers tried to resist the US drive 
towards war, hoping to resolve the conflict between the so-called Kosovo 
Liberation Army (KLA) and the Yugoslav military forces by negotiation.

On October 13, Richard Holbrooke, Albright's rival in the US 
Administration, negotiated a cease-fire. It was endorsed by Milosevic and 
was to be monitored by Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe 
(OSCE) observers.

On December 8, 1998, the General Affairs Council of European Foreign 
Ministers, including Cook from Britain, examined the situation and 
expressed "concern for the recent intensification of military action in 
Kosovo, [and] noted increased activity of the KLA had prompted an increased 
presence of Serbian security forces in the region".

The European Union saw the KLA as the driving force undermining the 
possibility of a cease-fire and a compromise solution.

Gowan, in his article, pointed out that the main West European powers were 
unable to maintain collective political will in the face of pressure from 
the US who exploited their rivalries.

In late January 1999 the British and French broke ranks and lined up with 
Clinton and war.

Gowan outlined the USA's aim of a global empire, based on its unrivalled 
military capacity and new war technologies, and supreme command over the 
new international political economy by key multinationals through the IMF 
and World Bank and their dominance of Dollar/Wall St regime.

They want a patchwork of states with legal sovereignty preserved, with the 
state concerned bearing all judicial and political responsibilities, but 
loosing control of the central economic and political processes.

The capitalist class of every state was to be guaranteed security against 
any social challenge if it respected the will and authority of the USA.

On the basis of this estimate Gowan saw the US strategic political aim in 
Europe and the war in Yugoslavia as an instrument of geopolitical strategy.

Gowan found that this assessment was overwhelmingly popular in the foreign 
offices and state executives of Europe.

The US wanted to overthrow the principles of state sovereignty and the 
power of the UN Security Council, and make the Kosovo crisis an instrument 
in doing so.

To drag the West European states into a Balkans war would consolidate US 
hegemony over them.

The USA had built up the KLA.

In March 1998 Ambassador Gelbard, the US Special Envoy in the region told 
the Yugoslav Government, "I know a terrorist when I see one, and these men 
(KLA) are terrorists."

It was the green light for Yugoslavia to launch counter-insurgency attacks 
against the KLA in Banitsar.

Then in June 1998, White House spokesman Mike McCurry said, "Serbia must 
immediately withdraw security units involved in civilian repression without 
linkage to stopping of terrorist activity.

"There ought to be complete withdrawal of military forces so that 
negotiations can begin."

It would have meant handing over the territory to KLA, when urban Albanians 
were far more pro-the Albanian leader Rugova, than the KLA.

The cease-fire negotiated October 13, 1998, was sabotaged.

It was a month before OSCE went in. William Walker, notorious for his 
dealings in South America (see Guardian June 2, 1999) was in charge, 
and the 2,000 monitors ready to go in, were blocked by Clinton.

Inside, the OSCE who went in were ex-military. They surveyed every bridge, 
crossroads, official buildings, security force billets and barracks.

The Rambouillet conference, a French proposal was controlled by the US who 
excluded the Kosovar elected Rugova Government and installed the KLA as the 
Kosovar representative.

The Secret Appendix B, leaked and published in the French press, was to 
give NATO free and unimpeded passage throughout the Federal Republic of 
Yugoslavia (FRY). NATO was to be completely above law.

"The economy of Kosovo shall function in accordance with free market 
principles", with complete compliance to World Bank and IMF. FRY was to 
hand over it economic assets to foreign interests.

On March 19, 1999, the bombing was announced, but it did not start till 
March 24.

Even then, for more than a week there was no bombing of Kosovo, the US 
hoping Yugoslav forces would attack the Albanians.

The Government of the Socialist Party did not advocate ethnic cleansing but 
the Radical Party and various Serbian fascist groups did.

For three days extremist forces went on rampage in Pristina after the start 
of the war. (Other reports are of 350 arrested for such activities and 
jailed for two to 20 years.) The Serbian Government did not organise a 
genocidal mass slaughter.

Gowan considered that governments of Western Europe knew the bombing of the 
Chinese Embassy was not a mistake.

US Military attaches had dined more than once at the Embassy.

The the German-Russian negotiations were halted to take the Yugoslav issue 
to UN.

It put a halt to German Chancellor Schroeder's planned business visit to 
China. China is by far the most important issue on the current US foreign 
policy agenda.

Gowan refers to the response to NATO in Europe. "Millions upon millions of 
people across Europe now see the Serb nation as a victim of the power plays 
of Western nations that have constructed a war on a foundation of lies."

They did more than see. Greek workers blockaded the ports. Others blocked 
military transports going into Albania. Italian fishermen went on strike 
over the bombs at the bottom of the Adriatic sea.

Demonstrators trashed the German Embassy in Macedonia and the US Embassy in 
the Czech Republic. The Greeks initiated the Marathon march, taken up in 
other European countries.

The German Greens Party split and nearly brought down the Government.

Before the bombing ceased the Italian, French and German Governments had 
called for an end to the bombing.

The almost unanimous condemnation in Russia forced the reluctant Government 
to put a resolution for negotiations in the UN.

It was the millions and millions that made the US realise they were running 
out of time and forced them to accept a compromise that included Russian 
troops in the UN occupying force.

Time will tell how much the political alignments have changed in NATO and 
other countries by the war against Yugoslavia.