STOP NATO: �NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK [Poor NATO! The model of outraged indignation, an innocent babe in the woods. How could it have known that supporting an armed pan-Albanian insurrection in Kosovo might lead to a spillover effect in Macedonia, despite the fact that their KLA allies were perfectly clear about their intentions from the beginning? How could they suspect that the viper they had welcomed to their bosom would sting them? Not precisely NATO itself, but Macedonia, Southern Serbia and beyond. An edifying exercise: While reading the following leader, substitute Kosovo for Macedonia (as a geographical entity) and Yugoslavia for Macedonia (as a nation). With a few minor adaptations, Bosnia could be used in place of Kosovo, also. THE TIMES (London) WEDNESDAY MAY 30 2001 Leading article Another Balkan threat Civil war in Macedonia could draw in all its neighbours Barely two years after the Kosovo war ended, fresh conflict, in almost the same place and with almost the same combatants, is again threatening to tear apart the southern Balkans. Nato foreign ministers meeting yesterday in Budapest heard fears that Albanian insurgents will succeed in their attempt to push the Former Yugloslav Republic of Macedonia into civil war. Lord Robertson of Port Ellen voiced the exasperation of peacekeepers, who spent time and money during the Kosovo campaign to bolster Macedonia�s stability only to see it wrecked by some of the very people Nato had protected from Serb repression. �There is still too much hatred and revenge and still too much readiness by some to resort to force and violence in pursuit of the nationalistic illusion,� he said. The illusion is an old one, Greater Albania, uniting Kosovo, parts of Macedonia and Albania in a single homeland for all Europe�s Albanians. It has already fostered dangerous delusions. The first is that lingering sympathy for the Kosovan Albanians will blind the West to the criminality, intolerance and corruption now thwarting all international attempts to restore this province to normality; and that past Western support for Albanian rights in Kosovo will translate into support for Macedonia�s Albanian minority in its demands on the Slav majority. The second delusion is that the outside world will not see through the intimidatory tactics of the rebels, many of them former members of the Kosovo Liberation Army. They believe that the militancy which paid off in Kosovo will work again further south. Using the inhabitants of the villages they have captured as human shields, their aim is to provoke bloody government retaliation to create Albanian �martyrs�, undermine the country�s moderate leaders and play on the grievances of the Albanians � 30 per cent of the population of two million � to unite them behind demands for autonomy that will slide into outright independence. Nato has already given Skopje moral, political and military support. It has reinforced Kosovo�s border with Macedonia, stepped up patrols and allowed Serb troops back into the Kosovo border zone. Western leaders persuaded President Boris Trajkovski to bring most Albanian leaders into a coalition government to isolate the rebels. But as elsewhere in the Balkans, too many intermediaries end up doing not good but harm. A spectacular example of crass diplomacy was the role played by Robert Frowick, an envoy of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe, who brokered a secret deal between the rebels and Albanian political leaders in the coalition, which appeared to legitimise the rebels, their tactics and demands for an amnesty. The result was explosive: confidence between Slav and Albanian politicians collapsed, the rebels won a propaganda coup and the brittle new coalition was stillborn. Javier Solana, the EU foreign policy co-ordinator, has been back and forth to try to repair the damage, but so far without success. Macedonia is a weak, small country on the fault-line of ancient ethnic animosities. Its Government has tried to do the right thing but has little money, authority or confidence. Without power to confront the rebels, check criminal gangs and rising nationalism at home or steer an independent course between the claims of its neighbours, it, and Macedonia�s unity, could collapse. A new Balkan war would follow. The virus must be contained now. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get personalized email addresses from Yahoo! Mail - only $35 a year! http://personal.mail.yahoo.com/ ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED]
