>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > >How it is done - >TAKING OVER THE TREPCA MINES: PLANS AND PROPAGANDA >by Diana Johnstone (2-28-00) > >www.tenc.net [emperors-clothes] > >Comparison of two documents, a November 1999 International Crisis Group (ICG) >paper on the Trepca mining complex, and a February 23, 2000 article in the >Toronto Star by ICG consultant Susan Blaustein, provides an exceptionally >clear glimpse into the workings of the "international community". > >The International Crisis Group is a high-level think tank supported by >financier George Soros. It was set up in 1995, primarily to provide policy >guidance to governments involved in the NATO-led reshaping of the Balkans. >Its leading figures include top U.S. policy maker Morton Abramowitz, the >eminence grise of NATO's new "humanitarian intervention" policy and sponsor >of Kosovo Albanian separatists. > >Last November 26, the ICG issued a paper on "Trepca: Making Sense of the >Labyrinth" which advised the United Nations Mission In Kosovo (UNMIK) to take >over the Trepca mining complex from the Serbs as quickly as possible and >explained how this should be done. The February article by the ICG journalist >represents a vulgarization of the anti-Serb position designed to prepare >public opinion for carrying out the ICG policy. There will no doubt be more. > >The ICG Paper: Manipulative Ambiguities > >Trepca is a conglomerate of some 40 mines and factories, mostly but not all >in Kosovo, notably including Stari Trg, "one of the richest mines in Europe" >and the richest in the Balkans, currently shut down, and the Zvecan smelter, >located northwest of Mitrovica and still being operated by Serb management. >The ICG calls on UNMIK, headed by Bernard Kouchner, to cut through legal >disputes over the industry's ownership and take over management of Trepca >itself. > >On July 25, Kouchner issued a decree that "UNMIK shall administer movable or >immovable property, including monetary accounts, and other property of, or >registered in the name of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia or the Republic >of Serbia or any of its organs, which is in the territory of Kosovo". The ICG >paper concluded that "UNMIK and KFOR should implement a rapid and categorical >takeover of the Trepca complex, including the immediate total shutdown of the >environmentally hazardous facilities at Zvecan". What is really wrong with >Zvecan is that it is run by Serbs and provides revenue to Yugoslavia. > >But in the "game-plan of measures" recommended by the ICG, UNMIK is advised >to instruct a "Zvecan environmental assessment team" to report on the status >of the equipment and thereupon "advise as to what measures must be taken"... >Environmental hazards are to be the pretext to shut down Zvecan and deprive >the last Serbs in Kosovo of their livelihood. Meanwhile, "Stari Trg, one of >the richest mines in Europe, must be potentially profitable again and should >be a priority for donors interested in setting Kosovo on its feet". > >The game-plan calls for a gradual start up of mining to reassure the >"Kosovars", meaning ethnic Albanians, of their future. For although the ICG >says that the "workforce and management of all Trepca facilities should be >selected on a merit basis only", it adds that "no one with ties to the >Belgrade regime should be considered" -- and it is habitual to identify all >Serbs with "the Belgrade regime", even to ignore their existence other than >as "agents of Milosevic". > >This blatant takeover of valuable property in what is still nominally part of >Serbia is of course justified as a necessary measure to reassure the >oppressed Albanians. "The return to work of even a few hundred Kosovar miners >would represent, for all Kosovars, the reclaiming of their patrimony". > >The media event is easy to imagine. But if the ICG hostility toward the Serbs >seems genuine, the love for the Albanians may be less than perfect. In the >ICG's brief account of past ethnic clashes over Trepca management, underlying >the habitual anti-Serb bias is the basic hypocrisy of dominant powers >manipulating two peoples against each other. The ICG report notes that Trepca >"has long stood for Kosovar Albanians as the symbol of Serbian oppression and >of their own resistance", and recounts that after 1974, finally able to >manage the Trepca facilities themselves, Kosovars "created thousands of >jobs", but that "in 1981-82, a sort of `Trepca-gate' scandal -- in which >Kosovar Albanian workers were accused of having stolen vast quantities of >gold and silver -- was the pretext for firing many engineers and >technicians". Whether the theft was real or merely a "pretext" is of no >interest to the international community ... so long as the Serbs were in >charge. > >But afterwards? The report concludes that: "Simply handing Trepca over to the >Kosovars is ruled out by the shortage of modern skills available locally, the >need for internationally-verifiable standards to avoid corruption" as well as >damage to the installations. And as for those "thousands of jobs" created by >and for Kosovo Albanians, they are not on the international community agenda. >"The social impact of the reduced work force would need to be balanced >against the need for competitively based private investment", the ICG >observes. Fortunately, the ICG finds that the young leadership of the "Kosovo >Liberation Army" is "somewhat impatient" with the older Kosovo Albanian >leadership group's interest in "a huge workforce" and prefers modernization >that will require foreign investment capital. No wonder Washington chose to >back the violent KLA. > >The manipulative hypocrisy of the ICG policy designers is even more blatant >concerning the Serbs. The ICG urges UNMIK to hurry up with the game plan for >taking over the valuable mining complex _before_ Serbian elections so that a >new government more to the West's liking cannot be accused of "losing >Trepca". All Serbian leaders, including opposition leaders, the ICG observes, >will have to protest when UNMIK takes over Trepca and the Zvecan smelter. >"However they could exploit the argument that the `loss' was due to the >pariah status of Milosevic himself, so that once again Serbia has lost assets >due to his presence in office. So provided action were taken before any >elections in Serbia it need not upset, and might contribute to, any strategy >for unseating Milosevic." In short, the international community is going to >take over Trepca whoever is in charge in Belgrade; better do it while >Milosevic is there, so that the Western-backed "progressive, democratic" >opposition can pretend it was the fault of Milosevic! > >Media Propaganda: Familiarity versus Truth > >Such cynicism is hard to surpass, but there is always room to add a few lies. >This is the task of the media propaganda aimed at getting the general public >to swallow the policies decided by elite think tanks and governments. The >February 23, 2000 article in The Toronto Star by ICG senior consultant Susan >Blaustein, "Mitrovica flashpoint for the next Balkan war", deserves a Jamie >Shea award for the most shameless war propaganda of the month. The clichés >are all there, "centuries-old hatreds" (not our fault, folks); then focus on >the single culprit: Milosevic; the unreliable French seeking appeasement >versus the need for the international community to display "backbone" and >stand up to "Milosevic's test of its resolve". For Blaustein, it is >Milosevic, of course, who is causing trouble in the city of Mitrovica because >of his "keen financial interest" in the Trepca mining complex and the Zvecan >smelter. NATO has occupied Kosovo and watched for eight months while >Albanians murder, terrorize and drive out most of the non-Albanian >population, but Blaustein is able to write (and the newspaper to publish) >that: "The city is a lynchpin in Belgrade's `Greater Serbia' strategy of >expelling non-Serbs from the region." The November 1999 ICG report noted >that: "International financial officials have long recognized the minerals >industry as being prime for money laundering" throughout the world because of >its structure and suggested that "the interest of the Milosevic circle in >exploiting the Trepca facilities might go beyond the simple operation of >sharing out the profits." This speculation is taken a step further by >Blaustein, who writes that the smelter in Zvecan "is widely believed to have >served the regime as an efficient money-laundering mechanism". But in any >case, if the Serbs are running Zvecan to their profit, why would they want to >make trouble? Ah, that Milosevic! It is because "Mitrovica is Milosevic's >only remaining foothold in Kosovo" so "he has decided to call the bluff of >the international community". The world is one big "test of wills" where >little guys are forever "calling the bluff" of giants so the giants will wipe >them out. The little guys seem to enjoy doing that, don't ask why. Blaustein >goes on to excuse the Albanians for recent violence and blame the French. It >is not the Serbs who are being driven out of Kosovo, but the Albanians who >are victims of "Milosevic's operatives" who "monitor, harass, terrorize and >expel ethnic Albanian civilians who dare to live in or travel to the Serb >side of town". The rocket attack on a bus carrying Serb civilians, which >killed two of them, was "not unprovoked"; the Albanians were impatient with >the international community for turning a blind eye to "Serbs' oppression of >ethnic Albanians"... By not allowing mobs of angry ethnic Albanians to take >over the last part of Kosovo where Serbs are still managing to live more or >less normally, "international officials are abandoning the U.N.'s stated >commitment to create and protect a multi-ethnic society in Kosovo", according >to Blaustein. This tract is meant to cast the blame in advance for what >Blaustein calls the "next Balkan war". It is in total contradiction to the >facts of what has been happening in Kosovo during eight months of foreign >occupation. > >How then can anyone dare to write or publish such an article? The answer is >that the propagandists are counting on the tendency of uninformed readers to >mistake what is familiar for what is true. The cliches about "Milosevic" and >"Greater Serbia" are familiar. The truth is not. If and when the "next Balkan >war" breaks out and the "international community" takes full control of the >Trepca industrial complex, the distracted public need not pay too much >attention, since everybody already knows what it's all about: that evil >dictator Milosevic is causing trouble again. > >- Diana Johnstone, 28 February 2000 > >*** > >To read the ICG report, "Trepca: Making Sense of the Labyrinth," please go to >http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/Johnstone/icg.htm > >To read the Blaustein article, please go to >http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/Johnstone/flashpoint.htm > >Emperors-clothes relies on contributions to cover expenses. If you'd like to >help with a credit card donation please click here or go to >http://www.emperors-clothes.com/howyour.html . Or you can mail a check to >Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321, Newton, MA 02461-0321. 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