This is long, but interesting and no doubt debatable in places.
Cheers, Ken Hanly
In Yugoslavia, the IMF has become the steadfast financial bureaucracy of the
Western military alliance, working hand in glove with NATO and the US State
Department.
ECONOMIC TERRORISM
by
Michel Chossudovsky
Professor of Economics, University of Ottawa
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) is known to bully developing
countries, imposing strong doses of "deadly economic medicine" while
saddling governments with spiraling external debts. In complicity with
Washington, the IMF often meddles in cabinet appointments in debtor
countries. In Korea in the turmoil of the 1997 Asian crisis, the Finance
Minister --sacked for allegedly "hindering negotiations" with the IMF-- was
replaced by a former IMF official.1 In Turkey, also in the wake of an
IMF-style financial meltdown (March 2001), the Minister of Economy was
substituted by a Vice-President of the World Bank. 2
But what has occurred in Yugoslavia sets a new record in the abusive
practices of the Washington-based international financial bureaucracy: the
arrest of a head of State of a debtor nation --demanded by its main
creditors-- has become "a pre-condition" for the holding of loan
negotiations.
While the 31st of March 2001 was Washington's deadline date for the arrest
of President Slobodan Milosevic by the DOS government, another ultimatum was
set for transferring the former head of State to the jurisdiction of the
NATO-sponsored Hague Tribunal (ICTY). In the words of Secretary of State
Colin Powell:
"the US administration's support for an international donors' conference
where Yugoslavia is hoping for up to $1 billion to help rebuild would depend
on continued progress in full cooperation with the [Hague] tribunal."3
A State Department spokesman further clarified "that the United States has
the power to stop the conference from going ahead in the early summer if
Washington is not satisfied."4 Meanwhile, the Hague Tribunal has threatened
to take the matter before the UN Security Council, if President Milosevic is
not rapidly transferred to its jurisdiction. 5
WITHHOLDING FINANCIAL "AID"
Very timely. At the height of the Yugoslav presidential elections (September
2000), "enabling legislation" was rushed through the US House of
Representatives. Washington had forewarned Kostunica --pursuant to an Act of
Congress (HR 1064)-- that unless his government fully complied to US
diktats, financial "aid" would be withheld. The IMF and the World Bank had
also been duly notified by their largest shareholder, namely the US
government, that:
"the US Secretary of the Treasury [would] withhold from payment of the
United States share of any increase in the paid-in capital of [the IMF and
World Bank] an amount equal to the amount of the loan or other assistance
[to Yugoslavia].6
Meanwhile, Washington had demanded the setting up of an office of the Hague
Tribunal (ICTY) in Belgrade as well as modifications to the legal statutes
of Yugoslavia. The latter --to be rubber-stamped by the Parliament-- would
place the ICTY Tribunal above the jurisdiction of Yugoslavia's national
legal system. It would also allow the ICTY to order on NATO's behest, the
arrest of thousands of people on trumped up charges.
RELEASING KLA TERRORISTS
US officials had also intimated that the prompt release of KLA "freedom
fighters" serving jail terms in Serbia was to be regarded as an "additional
pre-condition" for the granting of financial assistance:
"State Department officials later told UPI that among other steps the United
States was looking for, were Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica to begin
returning Albanians captured during the 1999 Kosovo conflict to Kosovo and
for
an acceptance of the war crimes tribunal's jurisdiction inside Serbia where
numerous indicted suspects still enjoy immunity."7
An "Amnesty Law" was rushed through the Yugoslav parliament barely a month
before Washington's March 31st deadline.8 While the victims of the war are
persecuted and indicted as war criminals, the Kostunica regime --on
Washington's instructions-- has released Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
criminals (linked to the drug mafias) who committed atrocities in Kosovo.
Meanwhile, these criminals have rejoined the ranks of the KLA, now involved
in a new wave of terrorist assaults in southern Serbia and in neighboring
Macedonia. The evidence amply confirms that these terrorist attacks are
supported and financed by Washington.9
"ECONOMIC NORMALIZATION"
Without further scrutiny, the Western media touts the holding of a donors'
conference as "a necessary step" towards "economic normalization" and the
"reintegration" of Yugoslavia into the "family of nations". Public opinion
is led to believe that the "donors" will "help" Yugoslavia rebuild. The
term "donor" is a misnomer. In fact the donors' conference is a meeting of
bankers and creditors mainly from the countries which bombed Yugoslavia.
Their intent is to not only to collect money from Yugoslavia, but also to
gain full control and ownership of the Yugoslav economy.
Meanwhile, national laws have been revised to facilitate sweeping
privatization. Serbia's large industrial complexes and public utilities are
to be restructured and auctioned off to foreign capital. In other words,
rather than "helping Yugoslavia", the donor conference --organized in close
consultation with Washington and NATO headquarters in Brussels-- would set
the stage for the transformation of Yugoslavia into a colony of the Western
military alliance.
Yugoslavia's external debt is in excess of $14 billion of which $5 billion
are owed to the Paris Club (i.e. largely to the governments of NATO
countries) and $3 billion to the London Club. The latter is a syndicate of
private banks, which in the case of Yugoslavia includes some 400 creditor
institutions. The largest part of Yugoslavia's commercial debt, however, is
held by some 16 (mainly) American and European banks which are members of an
"International Coordinating Committee" (ICC) headed by America's Citigroup
and Germany's giant WestDeutsche Landesbank. Other big players in the ICC
include J. P. Morgan-Chase and Merrill Lynch.
The ICC --which operates discretely behind the scenes-- ultimately call the
shots regarding debt negotiations, privatization and macro-economic therapy.
In turn, the IMF bureaucracy acting on behalf of both the commercial and
official creditors has called for "a restructuring of FRY's external debt on
appropriate terms" underscoring the fact that fresh money can only be
approved "following the regularization of arrears." 10 What this means is
that Belgrade would be obliged to recognize these debts in full as a
condition for the negotiation of fresh loans as well as settle pending
succession issues regarding the division of the external debt of the FRY
with the "successor republics."
FICTICIOUS MONEY
While token "reconstruction" loans are envisaged, vast amounts of money and
resources will be taken out of Yugoslavia. In fact, most of the promised
"reconstruction" money is totally fictitious.
A $208 million 'bridge loan" granted by Switzerland and Norway (January 2001
was used to reimburse the IMF. In turn, the IMF had granted $151 million to
Belgrade in the form of a so-called "post-conflict assistance" loan. But
this "aid" was tagged to reimburse Switzerland and Norway, which had coughed
up the money to settle IMF arrears in the first place:
"The [IMF] Board approved a loan [of] .US$151 million under the IMF's policy
on emergency post-conflict assistance in support of a program to stabilize
the FRY's economy and help rebuild administrative capacities. Of this
amount, the [Belgrade] authorities will draw. US$130 million to repay the
bridge loans they received [from Switzerland and Norway] to eliminate
arrears with the IMF."11
The illusion is conveyed that "money is coming in" and that "the IMF is
helping Yugoslavia." In fact, what remains after the IMF "has reimbursed
itself" is a meager influx of 21 million dollars. And broadly the same
fictitious money arrangement has been put in place by the World Bank, which
has ordered that $1.7 billion in arrears "be cleared" before the granting of
fresh loans.
In this regard, Belgrade will be granted a so-called "loan of consolidation"
from the World Bank to reimburse the $1,7 billion debt it owes to the World
Bank. Little or no money will actually enter the country. In the words of
Central Bank governor Mladan Dinkic:
"[this] will pave the way for Yugoslavia's return to the World Bank. `In the
first three years, we will receive the so-called AIDA status, which the
World Bank gives to the poorest countries. [this] is the most favorable
arrangement possible, with a longer grace-period and minimum interest, which
will allow our economy to pay off the [$1.7 billion] debt and create
conditions for receiving new loans".12
More generally, the "reconstruction" money will line the pockets of
international creditors and multinational corporations (with trinkets for
DOS cronies) while putting the entire Yugoslav economy on the auction block.
Assets will be sold at rock-bottom prices under IMF-World Bank supervision.
The meager proceeds of forced privatization --in which only foreign
"investors" will be allowed to bid-- will then be used to pay back the
creditors, who happen to be the same people who are buying up Yugoslavia's
assets.
And who will appraise the "book value" of Yugoslavia's industrial assets and
supervise the auction of State property? The large European and US merchant
banks and accounting firms, which also happen to be acting on behalf of
their corporate clients involved in bidding.
DEADLY ECONOMIC MEDICINE
Fictitious reconstruction money, however, is only granted on condition
Yugoslavia implements economic "shock therapy." The donor-sponsored program
is predicated on "destruction" rather than "reconstruction". Under the
disguise of "economic normalization", the IMF, the World Bank and the
London-based European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have
been given the mandate to dismantle through bankruptcy and forced
privatization what has not yet been destroyed by the bombers.
In this process, political terror and "economic terror" go hand in hand. The
evidence amply confirms that the IMF-World Bank's lethal economic reforms
imposed in more than 150 developing countries have led to the impoverishment
of millions of people. In a cruel irony, bitter economic medicine and token
financial assistance are presented as "the rewards" for transferring
President Milosevic to the jurisdiction of the Hague Tribunal.
While the present IMF program is a "continuation" of the deadly economic
reforms first imposed on federal Yugoslavia in the 1980s (and then on its
"successor republics"), it promises to be far more devastating.13
The Group of 17 economists (G-17) --which controls the Ministry of Finance
and Yugoslavia's Central Bank (NBJ)-- are in permanent liaison with the IMF,
the World Bank and the US Treasury. A "letter of Intent" outlining in
detail the economic therapy to be imposed on Yugoslavia by the DOS
government had in fact been drawn up in secret negotiations with the
creditors before the September 2000 presidential elections. Mladjan
Dinkic --who now holds the position of Governor of the National Bank of
Yugoslavia (NBJ) (Central Bank)-- had stated that one of the first things
they would do under a Kostunica presidency would be to implement economic
"shock therapy":
"Immediately after taking the office, the new government shall abolish all
types of subsidies. This measure must be implemented without regrets or
hesitation, since it will be difficult if not impossible to apply later, in
view of the fact that in the meantime strong lobbies may appear and do their
best to block such measures... This initial step in economic liberalization
must be undertaken as a "shock therapy" as its radical nature does not leave
space for gradualism of any kind."14
The G-17 does not hide the fact that one of its main objectives consists in
breaking social resistance to the economic restructuring program:
"Any future democratic regime is likely to face substantial public
resistance to privatization and the socio-economic reforms that will
accompany it. In the short term, the insolvency and restructuring of Serbian
enterprises is likely to generate unemployment or wage cuts for many
employees. The servicing of debts and fiscal adjustments are likely to
require cuts in public expenditure and the introduction of potentially
unpopular new taxes and levies. The purchase of Serbian firms by wealthy
domestic and foreign investors may also generate resentment, especially as
it will represent a radical break with the former Yugoslav tradition of
workers' or "social" ownership. Nationalist and anti-reformist groups are
likely to mobilize popular resistance by exploiting these problems. This
form of political opposition would limit the scope for introducing effective
economic reform and privatization."15.
FREEZING WAGES
The IMF program --put into full swing in the wake of the September 2000
elections-- calls for the adoption of "prudent macroeconomic policies and
bold structural reforms", In IMF lingo, "bold" invariably means the
application of "shock treatment" while "prudent" means carefully designed
and uncompromising austerity measures.16. Upon assuming office, the
Kostunica government --under IMF instructions-- has deregulated the prices
of basic consumer goods and frozen the wages of working people.17 A new
Labor Law setting the minimum wage at 35 percent of the average wage was
rubber-stamped by the Yugoslav parliament. In other words, with rising
prices coupled with the deindexation of wages ordered by the IMF, the new
legislation allows the real minimum wage to slide to abysmally low levels.18
Credit has been frozen to local businesses and farmers. Interest rates have
already skyrocketed. With the end of the economic sanctions, the IMF has
also demanded that import barriers be removed to facilitate the dumping of
surplus commodities on the domestic market leading to the bankruptcy of
domestic producers. In turn, energy prices are to be totally deregulated
prior to the privatization of public utilities, State oil refineries, coal
mining and electricity.
In turn, drastic cuts in the social security and pension funds of the
Republic of Serbia are envisaged, which would virtually lead to their
collapse (See IMF Program, op cit). The restructuring of social programs is
a carbon copy of that imposed in neighboring Bulgaria, where pensions paid
out to senior citizens plummeted in 1997 to $3 as month.19
ENGINEERING THE COLLAPSE OF THE DINAR
The most lethal component of the IMF program, however, is the so-called
"managed float" of the exchange rate which --according to IMF Deputy
Managing Director Stanley Fischer-- is implemented "to better reflect market
conditions". 20
Yugoslavia's central bank foreign exchange reserves are of the order of $500
million, the external debt is in excess of $14 billion. Under agreement
with the IMF, money (in the form of "precautionary loan") would be granted
to replenish the foreign exchange reserves of the Central Bank with a view
to supporting the dinar. Moreover following the Brazilian pattern, the dinar
would also be artificially propped up by extensive government borrowing from
private banking institutions at exorbitant interest rates thereby fuelling
the internal public debt. 21
In the absence of exchange controls restricting capital flight, central bank
foreign exchange reserves would eventually be depleted. In other words, when
the "borrowed reserves" are no longer there to prop up the currency, the
dinar collapses. In the logic of the "managed float", the dollars borrowed
under an IMF precautionary fund arrangement, would be reappropriated by
international creditors and speculators once the dinar slides, leading to a
further expansion of Yugoslavia's external debt.
In fact, this policy is largely instrumental in triggering hyperinflation.
The national currency would become totally worthless. In other words, prices
would go sky high following the collapse of the national currency. In turn,
wages would be frozen on IMF instructions as part of an "anti-inflationary
program" and the standard of living would plummet to even lower levels. And
Yugoslavs are already impoverished with two thirds of the population
(according to UN sources acknowledged in the IMF report) with per capita
incomes below 2 dollars a day.
It's the same financial scam that the IMF applied in Korea, Indonesia,
Russia, Brazil and more recently Turkey.22 In this process, various
speculative instruments (including "short selling" of currencies) were
applied by international banks and financial institutions to trigger the
collapse of national currencies. In Korea, debts spiraled in the wake of the
currency crisis. As a result, the entire economy was put on the auction
block and several of Korea's powerful conglomerates were taken over by
American capital at ridiculously low prices.
In Russia, the ruble became totally worthless following the implementation
of an IMF program. The float of the ruble applied in 1992 under IMF advice
was conducive in less than a year to a one hundred fold (9900%) increase in
consumer prices. Nominal earnings increased ten fold (900%), the collapse in
real wages in 1992 was of the order of 86 percent. In subsequent years, real
earnings continued to plummet precipitating the descent of the Russian
people into extreme poverty.23
More generally, the IMF program creates a framework for collecting as well
as enlarging the debt through the manipulation of currency markets. It is
worth mentioning, in this regard, that barely a few weeks before the arrest
of President Milosevic, Turkey was subjected --following the destabilization
of its currency-- to the most brutal economic reforms leading virtually over
night to the collapse of the standard of living. Under IMF ministrations,
interest rates in Turkey had shot up to a modest 550%.
WAR DAMAGES
The IMF has acknowledged in its report that the damage caused by NATO
bombings is of the order of 40 billion dollars.24 This figure does not take
into account the losses in Yugoslavia's GDP resulting from years of economic
sanctions, nor does it account for the loss of human life and limb, the
human suffering inflicted on an entire population, the toxic radiation from
depleted uranium and the environmental devastation amply documented by
Yugoslav and international sources. 25 Ironically, this study on war damages
was coordinated by G-17 Mladjan Dinkic and Miroslav Labus who now hold key
positions in the DOS government. Since his appointment to the position of
central bank governor, Dinkic has not said a word about "war damages" in his
discussions with Western creditors. 26
LUCRATIVE RECONSTRUCTION CONTRACTS
No "compensation" for war damages let alone debt relief has been
contemplated. In a cruel twist, a large part of the fresh loans --which
Yugoslavia will eventually have to reimburse-- will be used to rebuild what
was destroyed by the bombers. Moreover, under the World Bank-EBRD system of
international tender, these loans are in fact tagged to finance lucrative
contracts with construction companies from NATO countries:
"the big winners [are the Western] telecommunications companies,
construction firms, banks and shipping concerns who can rebuild the Danube
River bridges, power plants and refineries destroyed by NATO airstrikes. .
While European companies, already busy with Balkan projects, have a
home-court advantage, U.S. companies such as infrastructure specialists
Brown & Root [a subsidiary of Vice President Dick Cheney's company
Halliburton Oil], AES and General Electric could get a piece of the action."
27
And what will these companies do? They will sub-contract will local firms
and/or hire Yugoslav engineers and workers at wages below one hundred
dollars a month. In other words, the borrowed money promised to Belgrade for
"reconstruction" will go straight back into the pockets of Western banks and
MNCs. In turn, the so-called "prioritization of expenditures" imposed by the
IMF means that the State (i.e. Yugoslavia's own money) would be footing the
bill for clearing the Danube and rebuilding the bridges, essentially
"subsidizing" the interests of foreign capital. Moreover, IMF
"conditionalities" --which require drastic cuts in social expenditures--
would prevent the government from allocating its budget to rebuilding
schools and hospitals hit during the bombing campaign.
THE COSTS OF THE AIR CAMPAIGN
Accusing the Serbian people and the former head of State of the crimes
committed by the aggressor is intended to instill a sense of fear and
collective guilt on an entire Nation.
But there is something else which has so far not been mentioned:
Washington's design is to hold President Milosevic responsible for the War
not as an individual but as the country's head of State, with a view to
eventually collecting war reparations from Yugoslavia.
In other words, if the former head of State were to be indicted by the Hague
tribunal, the country could be held "legally responsible" not only for the
costs of NATO's "humanitarian bombs", but for all the military and
"peacekeeping" expenses incurred since 1992.
In fact, an army of accountants and economists has already evaluated --on
NATO's behest-- the costs of the air campaign and the various "peacekeeping
operations". In this regard, the U.S. share of the costs of the bombing,
"peacekeeping" and "refugee assistance" solely in fiscal year 1999 was
estimated at $5.05 billion. The amounts allocated by the Clinton
Administration to pay for the war and the refugees in FY 1999 were of the
order of $6.6 billion. So-called "emergency funding" appropriated by
Congress for operations in Kosovo and other defense spending in FY 1999
totaled $12 billion. Moreover, the Department of Defense estimates the costs
of deployment of American occupation forces and civilian personnel stationed
in Bosnia and Kosovo since 1992 to be of the order of $21.2 billion.28
In other words, indicting President Milosevic on trumped up charges raises a
fundamental question of legitimacy. It sanctions the bombings as a
humanitarian operation. It not only absolves the real war criminals, it also
opens up the avenue for the indictment of Yugoslavia as a nation.
The former head of State is indicted; the people are collectively indicted.
What this means is that NATO could at some future date oblige Yugoslavia to
pay for the bombs used to destroy the country and kill its people.
There is nothing fundamentally new in this process. Under the British
Empire, it was common practice not only to install puppet regimes but also
to bill the costs of gunboat operations to countries, which refused to sign
a "free trade" agreement with Her Majesty's government. In 1850, Britain
threatened to send in its "gun boats" ---equivalent to today's humanitarian
air raids-- following the refusal of the Kingdom of Siam (Thailand) to sign
a free trade treaty with Britain (equivalent to today's "letter of intent"
to the IMF). While the language and institutions of colonial diplomacy have
changed, the similarity with contemporary practices is striking. In the
words of British envoy Sir James Brooke (equivalent to today's Richard
Holbrooke):
"The Siamese Government is hostile-- its tone is arrogant-- its presumption
unbounded... Should these just [British] demands firmly urged be refused, a
force should be present, immediately to enforce them by a rapid destruction
of the defenses of the river. Siam may be taught the lesson which it has
long been tempted, . a better disposed king placed on the throne, and an
influence acquired in the country which will make it of immense commercial
importance to England... [Note the similarity in relation to Yugoslavia]
Above all, it would be well to prepare for the change and to place our own
kind on the throne . This prince [Mongkut] we ought to place on the throne
and through him, we might, beyond doubt, gain all we desire.. And the
expense incurred [of the military operation] would readily be available from
the royal treasury of Siam."29
Replace the head of State, impose "free" trade, bill the country for the
military operation!
PRECEDENTS OF WAR REPARATIONS: VIETNAM AND NICARAGUA
In fact in the case of Vietnam --which won the war against US aggression--
Hanoi was nonetheless obliged to pay war reparations to the United States,
as a condition for the lifting of economic sanctions in 1994.
Although the historical circumstances were quite different to those of
Yugoslavia, the pattern of IMF intervention in Vietnam was in many regards
similar. The decision to lift the sanctions on Vietnam was also taken in the
context of a donors' conference. "Some two billion dollars of loans and
"aid" money had been pledged in support of Vietnam's IMF sponsored reforms,
yet immediately after the Conference another separate meeting was held, this
time "behind closed doors" in which Hanoi was obliged to fully reimburse .
the debts incurred by the US installed Saigon military government."30 By
fully recognising the legitimacy of these debts, Hanoi had in effect
accepted to repay loans that had been utilised to support the US War effort.
Moreover, Hanoi's acceptance had also totally absolved Washington from
paying war reparations to Vietnam totalling $4.2 billion as agreed at the
Paris Peace Conference in 1973.31
NICARAGUA: "FREEDOM FIGHTERS" AND IMF ECONOMIC MEDICINE
Similarly the 12 billion dollars "reparations" that the US had been ordered
to pay to Nicaragua by the Hague International Court of Justice (ICJ) were
never paid. In 1990, following the installation of a pro-US "democratic"
government, these reparations --ordered by the ICJ-- were erased in exchange
for "normalization" and the lifting of sanctions. In return, Washington
approved a token $60 million in "emergency aid" which was of course
conditional upon the payment of all debts and the adoption of the most
deadly IMF economic shock therapy:
"The United States . provides severance pay to government workers fired
under the U.S.-mandated [IMF structural adjustment] program to reduce the
size of Nicaragua's government. Among the results: Nicaragua's social
security budget has been slashed from $ 18 million to $ 4 million while
unemployment has risen to about 45 percent. Health spending has dropped from
$86 per person [per annum] five years ago to $ 18 [in 1991 in the year
following the elections]. Pensions for disabled war veterans have been
frozen at $ 6.50 per month while food prices have risen [1991] to nearly
U.S. levels. In the words of a State Department official 'The US is
committed to rebuilding Nicaragua, but there's only a limited amount you can
do with development aid.'"32
Yet the US did not hesitate in spending billions of dollars to finance nine
years of economic embargo and war in which Washington created and funded a
paramilitary army (the Contras) to fight the Sandinista government. Heralded
by the Reagan administration and touted by the media as "freedom fighters",
the Contras insurgency was financed by drug money and covert support from
the CIA. And in fact the same pattern of covert support using drug money
was applied to financing the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) with a view to
destabilizing Yugoslavia. William Walker, head of the OSCE mission to
Kosovo in the months preceding the 1999 war, was responsible together with
Coronal Oliver North in channeling covert support to the Contras which
ultimately led to the downfall of the Sandinista government and its defeat
in "democratic" elections in 1990.
THE ROLE OF THE UNITED NATIONS COMPENSATION COMMISSION (UNCC)
Another case is that of Iraq which --in the wake of the Gulf War-- was
obliged to pay extensive war reparations. The United Nations Compensation
Commission (UNCC) was set up to process "claims" against Iraq. Thirty
percent of Iraqi oil revenues in the "oil for food program" are impounded by
the UNCC to pay war reparations to governments, banks and corporations. The
UNCC "has awarded more than $32 billion [in claims], and more than $9.5
billion has been paid out under the food-for-oil regime."33
These precedents are important in understanding the war in Yugoslavia.
Although no official statement has been made by NATO, the framework and
bureaucracy of the UNCC could at some future date be extended to collecting
war reparations from Yugoslavia. The UNCC's claim procedures are based on a
1991 UN Security Council resolution which establishes Iraq's liability for
the Gulf war under international law.
In the case of Yugoslavia, President Milosevic is accused by the Hague
tribunal for "crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs
of war", 34. Following the Iraqi precedent, a decision of the Hague Tribunal
concerning President Milosevic could constitute the basis for the
formulation of a similar UN Security Council Resolution establishing the
liability of the government and people of Yugoslavia for the "direct loss,
damage. to foreign governments, nationals and corporations", including "the
costs of the air campaign." 35
REWRITING HISTORY
Recent events have shown how realties can be turned upside down by the
aggressor and its propaganda machine. NATO's intent is to blatantly distort
the course of events and manipulate the writing of modern history. It is
therefore essential that the Yugoslav people remain united in their resolve.
It should also be understood that the "demonisation" of the Serbian people
and of President Slobodan Milosevic alongside the triggering of ethnic
conflicts is intended to impose the "free market" and enforce the New World
Order throughout the Balkans.
Internationally, the various movements against IMF-World Bank-WTO reforms
must understand that war and globalization are inter-connected processes.
Applied around the World, the only promise of the "free market" is a World
of landless farmers, shuttered factories, jobless workers and gutted social
programs with "bitter economic medicine" under IMF-WB-WTO custody
constituting the only prescription. Moreover, militarization increasingly
constitutes the means for enforcing these deadly macro-economic reforms.
Yugoslavia's struggle to preserve its national sovereignty is --at this
particular juncture in its history-- a part of the broader movement against
the New World Order and the imposition throughout the World of a uniform
neo-liberal policy agenda under IMF-World Bank-WTO supervision. Behind these
organizations --which routinely interface with NATO-- are the powers of the
US and European financial establishments and the Western military-industrial
complex.
ENDNOTES
1. Agence France Presse , 19 November 1997.
2 Quest Economics Database. West LB Emerging Trends, 8 March 2001, Agence
France Press, 16 March 2001.
3. Statement of Secretary of State Colin Powell quoted in International
Herald Tribune, Paris, April 4, 2001
4. International Herald Tribune, op. cit.
5. B 92 News, Belgrade, 3 May 2001.
6. US House of Representatives, Bill HR 1064, section 302, September 2000,
at http://www.house.gov/house/Legproc.html., click 106th Congress and enter
bill number.
7. UPI, 2 April 2001
8. New York Times, 27 February 2001.
9. See Michel Chossudovsky, Washington Finances Ethnic Warfare in the
Balkans", Emperors Clothes, April 2001.
10. See IMF, IMF Approves Membership of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and
US$151 Million in Emergency Post-Conflict Assistance,
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2000/pr0075.htm.
11. See IMF, IMF Approves Membership of Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and
US$151 Million in Emergency Post-Conflict Assistance,
http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2000/pr0075.htm.
12. Government of Serbia, Serbia Info, Belgrade 2 May 2001,
http://www.serbia-info.com/news/2001-05/03/23335.html.
13 For further details see Michel Chossudovsky, Dismantling Former
Yugoslavia, Recolonising Bosnia, Covert Action Quarterly, Sprint 1996,
available at http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/Kosovo/Kosovo-controversies4.html or
http://www.emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/dismantl.htm.
14. See Group of 17 "Program of Radical Economic Reforms", Belgrade 1999 at
http://www.g17.org.yu/english/programm/program.htm.
15. New Serbia Forum, "Privatization", Budapest, 13-15th March 2000,
http://www.newserbiaforum.org/Reports/privatisation.htm.
16. The full text of the IMF program is available at
http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/cat/longres.cfm?sk&sk=3875.0 The
Government's commitment under the IMF program is outlined in Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, "Economic Reform Program for 2001" Belgrade,
December 9th, 2000, http://www.seerecon.org/FRYugoslavia/erp2001.htm, see
also "Synthetic View" of main economic policy measures at
http://www.seerecon.org/FRYugoslavia/epmeasures.pdf.
17. See Michel Chossudovsky, Kostunica Coalition Drives Up Prices and
Blames...Milosevic, October 2000,
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/triples.htm.
18. See B 92 News, 3 May 2001 at http://www.b92.net/archive/e/index.phtml.
19. IM Program, op cit. On Bulgaria see The Wind in the Balkans, The
Economist, London, February 8, 1997, p.12 and Jonathan C. Randal, Reform
Coalition Wins, Bulgarian Parliament, The Washington Post, April 20 1997, p.
A21.
20. See the Statement of IMF Deputy Managing Director Stanley Fischer,
December 2000 at http://www.imf.org/external/np/sec/pr/2000/pr0075.htm.
21. See Michel Chossudovsky, "Brazil's IMF Sponsored Financial Disaster",
Third World Network, 1998 at http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/latin-cn.htm.
22. For details see Michel Chossudovsky, Financial Warfare triggers Global
Financial Crisis, Third World Network at
http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/trig-cn.htm.
23. See Michel Chossudovsky, The Globalization of Poverty, Zed Books, London
1997, chapter 12.
24. The IMF quotes the G-17 study, "Economic Consequences of NATO
Bombardment", Belgrade 2000 at http://www.g17.org.yu/english/index.htm.
25. See Michel Chossudovsky, NATO Willfully Triggered an Environmental
Catastrophe in Yugoslavia, June 2000, at is
http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/chuss/willful.htm.
26. See G-17, "Economic Consequences of NATO Bombardment", Belgrade 2000 at
http://www.g17.org.yu/english/index.htm.
27. USA Today, 10 October 2000.
28. GAO : Briefing report to the Chairman, Committee on Armed Services,
House of Representatives, RPTno: gao/nsiad-00-125br, Washington, 24 April
2000.
29. Quoted in M. L. Manich Jumsai, King Mongkut and Sir John Bowring,
Chalermit, Bangkok, 1970, p. 21.
30. See Michel Chossudovsky, The Globalisation of Poverty, op cit., Chapter
8.
31. A. J. Langguth, The Forgotten Debt to Vietnam, New York Times, 18
November 2000, see also Barbara Crossette, Hanoi said to vow to give MIA
Data, New York Times, 24 October, 1992.
32. The Houston Chronicle, 8 December 1991. To consult the International
Court of Justice 1986 Judgement on "Nicaragua v. United States of America"
see: "Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua
(Nicaragua v. United States of America) (1984-1991)" at
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/Icases/iNus/inusframe.htm, summary at
http://www.icj-cij.org/icjwww/idecisions/isummaries/inussummary860627.htm.
33. UPI, 7 December 2000.
34. See the text of 1999 indictment of President Milosevic by the Hague
Tribunal at http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/mil-ii990524e.htm.
35. See the text of UNSC resolution 687 (1991) pertaining to Iraq at
http://www.unog.ch/uncc/introduc.htm.
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