Miroslav Antic
Sun, 24 Aug 2003 15:19:38 +0000
The West continues to fail in Kosovo Posted on Wednesday, August 20 @ 12:00:00 EDT by CDeliso http://www.balkanalysis.com/ Other Balkans Articles Last week's machine-gunning of Serbian children swimming in the River Bistrica shows, once again, that the Western "confidence-building" mission there has failed. Since 1999, over 4,000 people (mostly Serbs) have gone missing, and over 110 Serbian churches have been vandalized or destroyed. Roma and Macedonian Muslims have also been evicted. Erasing any trace of Serbian culture is useful for Albanian extremists, such as the self-proclaimed "Albanian Liberation Army" (AKSH), which claims to be liberating Albanian lands from "Serb and Slavo-Macedonian colonists." After all, the "colonization" charge is more easily supported when structures- in some cases 7 centuries old- are eliminated. The internationals would like to set Kosovo off on a happy course of self-sufficiency. The endgame will soon come, or so they say, with direct negotiations between Serbs and Albanians. But these negotiations have been continually postponed, and the recent murders at Bistrica will set them back farther. International reports have, with a few exceptions, been more fascinated with documenting Serb "reprisals" and how the killings might enable the "nationalist" vote for Serb politicians than with the actual murders themselves. Following the typical UNMIK line of "unknown perpetrators," media reports are coy about stating exactly who was behind the shootings. The Serbs, of course, are said to be hysterical (when demanding, 'how long will this be allowed to go on?') and overdramatic (when a bishop said, 'Serbs have been suffering here for 600 years'). However, they do have a serious point when they say that there is a concerted and sustained campaign of ethnic cleansing going on against them. Contrary to the rhetoric of Clinton and Blair, there was no "ethnic cleansing" going on in Kosovo against the Albanians to warrant NATO's bombing. However, in the aftermath of that operation, a very real ethnic cleansing campaign has gone on against Serbs, Roma and Muslim Macedonians. While many believe that a "Greater Albania" is not desired, because of internal incompatibility between Gegs and Tosks, there is no question that Kosovo is meant to be an ethnically-pure state. And the internationals are utterly incapable of stopping it. However, the international community has also failed to keep the Kosovo mess contained within its borders. The Macedonian war of 2001 was directed, manned and run from Kosovo, and Albanian "refugees" after 1999 in Western Europe have regrouped to form some of the most pernicious and violent mafia groups in Europe, according to British police and Interpol. Most recently, a group of Roma who'd been expelled from Kosovo- real refugees- left their Macedonian refugee camp, and tried to cross the Greek border. Claiming quite rightly that they weren't allowed to return to their Kosovo homes by the Albanians there, the Roma demanded that some Western country take them in. While this was on the surface an absurd request, there is something to it. After all, if the West cannot contain the problems it has caused through intervention, should it not bear some of the responsibility for solving them? Sadly, however, Kosovo is run by bureaucrats, career do-gooders, interns and indeed a percentage of well-meaning officials, who nevertheless are powerless to reverse the fatal trends now at work. When Kosovo finally gets its independence, two things will occur. First, a final showdown will take place, by which Serbs in isolated enclaves will be forced to flee or will be outgunned and thus killed by their Albanian neighbors. The province will probably be divided, meaning that Serbs will find safety only in Mitrovica. But the international community has persistently failed to understand the stubborn mindset of people who- through four years of constant terrorism- have obstinately stayed in their villages. There is no reason to doubt that they will fight back, when the time comes. The violence will be brief, but intense. It will end when the minorities have been eliminated. For a short while, Kosovo will bask in the luminous glow of its quasi-fascist, liberated existence. However, when the international community- a major contributor to the economy- leaves, the province's inherent economic weaknesses will come to the fore. Amidst 50 percent unemployment, heavy mafia activity and no remaining minorities to scapegoat, society will implode into recriminations and vendettas. Kosovo, already a ward of the West, will have to become someone's child. Given the candidates- Serbia, Macedonia or Albania- we are left with the disturbing likelihood that Kosovo will fall so far behind that Albania will have to care for it. Ironically, the much feared and much heralded "Greater Albania" might occur, but out of exigency rather than intent. Albania itself has been making great strides and has no use for Kosovar disruptiveness. However, it may be sucked into the Kosovo black hole, because there is no chance that Kosovo can survive on its own as a country, economically speaking. It will have to come crawling back to someone- the question is to who, and how. http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=124 Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/