***Please feel free to forward***
Subject: Re: Protest against the Bombing
OK, sigh, I guess I'll get into this one, although
I view it as pretty murky and not an easy call, although
I think that ultimately this bombing is a mistake and
could well lead to a really ugly mess. I hope not.
But let's get some of the history right for starters:
1) Kosovo is the traditional heartland of Serbia, site
of their defeat in 1389 by the Ottomans and also the
site of the central shrines of the Serbian Orthodox
Church.
2) The Albanians are Muslims (about 70%) and the
Serbs view them historically as having been flunkies
for the long-ruling Ottoman Turks who were only driven
out with Russian assistance in 1878, when an independent
Serbia was established which included the province of
Kosovo. Disputes over whether Austria-Hungary or
Serbia should control Bosnia led to the beginning of
WW I when Gavrilo Princip assassinated the Archduke
Ferdinand in Sarajevo on the anniversary of the defeat
in 1389.
3) After WW I (in which Serbia was on the victorious side)
the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes was
established which renamed itself "Yugoslavia" in 1930, or
thereabouts, which had nearly the borders of post-WW II
Yugoslavia (main difference was that Italy had Istria in the
northwest before the war which is now in Slovenia).
4) I note that there had been a "Yugoslav" nationalist
movement from the time of Napoleon, based on the close
relations among the South Slav languages ("Yugoslavia"
means "South Slavia" in Serbo-Croatian) which supposedly
overcame their disunity in religion (Catholic Slovenes and
Croats against Orthodox Serbs and Macedonians and
Bulgarians, who never joined the country, and the Muslim
Bosniaks (Serbo-Croat speakers). Although Slovenian,
Serbo-Croatian, Macedonian, and Bulgarian are officially
viewed as distinct languages, it is a fact that somebody can
manage just fine with Bulgarian in Slovenia, and that one can
walk from Varna, Bulgaria on the Black Sea to the northwest
corner of Slovenia without ever encountering a linguistic
discontinuity or divide. These "languages" are artifices of
governments and higher level entities.
The mostly Muslim Albanians are the odd folks out, being
not Slavic and speaking a very distinct language.
5) During WW II the Nazis and fascists carved up Yugoslavia,
with Slovenia being annexed to Germany (along with neighboring
Austria), a nasty puppet regime being established in Croatia
under the Ustashe who ran one of the worst concentration camps
of the war at Jasenovic (the Croat leader used to keep a jar of
eyeballs of the dead in his office). There was also a puppet regime
in Serbia, opposed by the monarchist Chetniks and the Communist
partisans under Tito (who operated out of Bosnia especially),
but the province of Vojvidina in the north was annexed by Hungary,
and Kosovo was attached to Albania which was under fascist
Italian rule. Macedonia and Montenegro were parts of Serbia,
although they would be full republics of Yugoslavia after the war
(like Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and Macedonia, but
unlike Kosovo or Vojvodina).
6) After the war Tito and the League of Communists were in
control. One of the motives for the decentralized workers'
management system in Yugoslavia was to deal with the problem
of separatism and ethnic tensions by devolving a lot of power
to local rulers and leaders. For better or for worse regional
inequalities worsened during this period of rule with a 3 to 1
ratio of income between (richest) Slovenia and (poorest)
Kosovo becoming a 9 to 1 ratio by the time of the national
dissolution in 1990-91.
7) Kosovo had the status of an autonomous republic within
the Republic of Serbia within postwar Yugoslavia. It was granted
a substantial degree of local autonomy by Tito, as was the
autonomous republic of Vojvodina within Serbia. Kosovo was
and remains the poorest part of the former Yugoslavia. Today,
current Yugoslavia contains two republics, Serbia and Montenegro
(Montenegro was independent before WW I and was the first of
the Balkan states to achieve independence from the Ottomans
and Austro-Hungarians). The Republic of Serbia contains two
autonomous republics, Kosovo and Vojvodina.
8) In 1989, the then leader of Serbia was the current Yugoslav
president, Slobodan Milosevic. He adopted a nationalist stance
and gave a speech on the 600th anniversary of the Serb defeat
by the Ottomans. Shortly thereafter he revoked the autonomy of
both Kosovo and Vojvodina. It is the return to such autonomy
that is the proclaimed goal of US/NATO and the bombing. For
better or for worse the local Albanians are no longer interested
in that and the KLA wants full independence, a more than minor
problem, although tactically they gained by signing the
Rambouillet Accords.
9) There has been a long demographic shift with ethnic Albanians
becoming the majority in Kosovo probably in the 1950s. Today
they are 80-90% of the population. A major complaint against
them and their autonomous control prior to 1989 was that their
local government discriminated against ethnic Serbs and
encouraged the outmigration of Serbs. Milosevic reacted to
that. Nobody should be under any illusions about the KLA either.
They are patriarchal and chauvinistic mafiosi.
10) Offhand I would say that "autonomy" is a nice goal, but the
KLA basically does not want it (they signed for it to get the
current bombing of the Serbs). The US/NATO is in fact bombing
a sovereign nation that is resisting a separatist movement. This
is in violation of the UN Charter and OSCE agreements. The
Russians are right to object.
11) OTOH, Milosevic and the Serbs have engaged in all kinds
of nasty ethnic cleansing. What went on in Bosnia was much
worse than anything that has happened in Kosovo so far, but
support in Europe for the bombing clearly reflects the fear that
the most recent Serb military actions in Kosovo could lead to
such truly horrific and genocidal stuff. This has definitely gotten
very ugly. But I do not see the bombing putting the Serbs off.
Quite the contrary. Milosevic now has the support of even his
critics in Serbia in the face of this attack.
12) Frankly, I'm not sure why the US is doing this. Some on these
lists have and will charge that this is all generated by US
capitalists out to undo the quasi-socialist regime in Yugoslavia,
or that this is part of a power play against the Russians, traditional
defenders of Serbia, or that this is a German plot (Germany having
traditionally supported Croatia against Serbia). Maybe.
However, I think a lot of it is personal. Bill Clinton (and
Madeleine Albright, a major player here) has simply gotten fed
up with being blown off by Milosevic who has violated a cease
fire agreement he made last fall. It is that violation and the vigor
of the latest Serb actions that has brought about the support for
the bombing of governments that might not be expected to
support it. Notable in this regard is supposedly socialist and
also traditionally pro-Serbian France, and also very pro-Serb
Greece, and nearby (and nervous about attacks and refugees)
Italy, also with a more or less semi-socialist government and
recently angry with the US over the downed gondola incident.
Greece is not actively supporting the bombing, but has not
opposed it within NATO. Non-NATO member Austria has
blocked all overflights in support of the bombing. But, leftist
opinion in some of the countries, the newspaper "Liberation"
in France, and the Reformed Communists in Italy in particular
have been critical. Even in UK many are concerned that there
is no exit strategy from this policy and that Clinton and the
rest of them do not really know what they are doing.
It is clear that the US clearly feels it can get away with this.
But where this will all end is very unclear.
Barkley Rosser
Note: Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo/Albania --- all in the space of 6
months. Anti--___?____ & Unchecked/unexplained.
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