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| Return to: Left History: a digital archive | Return to: Say no to imperialist wars! | Return to: NATO-Yugoslav War Internet Resources |
The brutal U.S./NATO bombing of Yugoslavia may have stopped, but the imperialist war against that besieged country is not over.
The terrorist Kosovo Liberation Army--which re-entered Kosovo under NATO protection--has unleashed a bloodbath against Serbs, Roma people, progressive Albanians and others. This is the current stage of the KLA campaign to purge Kosovo of all non-Albanians in its stated goal of winning independence and forming a a 'Greater Albania.'
Thousands of refugees created by KLA ethnic cleansing have been fleeing Kosovo since NATO entered this southern province of Yugoslavia. But the KLA is NATO-backed, and the mighty U.S./NATO occupiers find it convenient, in this case, to feign impotence in the face of this terrible human catastrophe.
Only months ago, the Clinton White House said it had to bomb Yugoslavia because of an alleged humanitarian crisis involving Albanian refugees leaving Kosovo. Not only were the numbers greatly inflated. Studiously ignored was the fact that most ethnic Albanians--and other nationalities-- were forced to hit the road after NATO started bombing their homes, schools, hospitals, fields and factories.
The United States and its imperialist allies are not satisfied with having instigated the secession of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Slovenia and Macedonia. These countries were once part of the multi-ethnic Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia before its breakup began in 1991.
The U.S.-scripted Rambouillet Accords called for, among other things, total NATO occupation of Yugoslavia, the cost to be borne by the Yugoslav government. The Yugoslav government's rejection of Rambouillet was foreseen by the United States and used to justify the murderous NATO bombing of that sovereign country.
In the capitalist drive for limitless profits, the United States and its imperialist allies want all of Yugoslavia and beyond--not just Kosovo. The Clinton White House has been working nonstop, on behalf of the exploitative class it represents, to put pro-imperialist puppets in office and to encourage the secession of Montenegro from the Yugoslav federation.
In early June, Robert Gelbard, the U.S. special envoy to the Balkans, held a secret meeting in Montenegro with nine bourgeois opposition leaders. (Washington Post, June 18)
The removal of President Slobodan Milosevic, elected leader of the federal government, was one of the main goals discussed in the name of democracy. Gelbard's role has also been to foment a split between Serbia and Montenegro, the only two republics left in Yugoslavia.
During the vicious Nazi-like blitzkrieg, Gelbard arranged financial assistance for Montenegro, while the economic noose was tightened around Serbia. He also reportedly helped to choose the bombing targets.
'A senior Administration official said the United States, which last year appropriated $15 million to promote democracy in the Yugoslav Federation, will direct that money primarily to cities not controlled by Milosevic,' reported the Post.
The June 21 New York Times confirmed this subversive campaign when it quoted Michael Steiner, the chief diplomatic advisor to German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. The money, he said, 'would be used as a political weapon to isolate Milosevic. Aid would be channeled to Kosovo, Montenegro, and even perhaps areas of Serbia itself run or controlled by the opposition parties.'
Montenegran President Milo Djukanovic was at the secret meeting. And so was Zoran Djindic, president of the Democratic Party; Milan Panic, a former prime minister of Yugoslavia and a U.S. business executive; Vladim Baltic, head of the bourgeois coalition Alliance for Change; and Goran Svilanovic, president of the Civic Alliance.
Then on July 31, Bill Clinton and 38 other world leaders met in Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital. The meeting was billed as a summit on reconstructing the war-torn Balkans.
Excluded from the gathering was Yugoslav President Milosevic, who is a Serb. But Montenegran President Djukanovic was invited to attend.
'I do not believe,' said Clinton, 'that we should give reconstruction aid to Serbia as long as it rejects democracy and as long as Mr. Milosevic is in power. We have had enough of `ethnic cleansing.'' (New York Times, July 31)
Clinton pledged $10 million for Serbia. 'The money will go to the democratic opposition to Mr. Milosevic and to encircle Serbia with a ring of transmitters for the Voice of America and Radio Free Europe to counter Mr. Milosevic's state-run propaganda machine,' the Times reported.
The Clinton White House is limiting funding so it only goes to Serb opposition groups, political parties, the pro- imperialist media, lawyers, and other 'pro-democracy' groups, while keeping sanctions against the rest of Yugoslavia in place.
'Our lawyers and State Department lawyers agreed last week,' said John Tennant, deputy assistant administrator at the United States Agency for International Development, 'that we could provide assistance and go forward with the programs for independent media, opposition parties and trade unions.'(New York Times, July 24)
Not surprisingly, on Aug. 5 the Montenegran parliament proposed sweeping changes that would amount to a split with Serbia and the end of Yugoslavia. Montenegro, which provides Serbia with access to the Adriatic Sea, threatened a referendum on full independence if the federal government rejects the proposal.
'This is not Montenegro's proposal,' said Goran Matic, a spokesperson for the federal government. 'This is Gelbard's proposal.' (Washington Post, Aug. 6)
Demonstrations calling for Milosevic's resignation, for early elections and 'democratic reforms' have been big news in the capitalist media. Encouraged by the United States, these protests do not involve the majority of the people.
On Aug. 6, Milosevic defiantly told a gathering of Serb emigres in Belgrade that NATO is 'trying to undermine our stability from within to realize in this manner the aims it failed to do with 22,000 tons of bombs fired on our country.'
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