An Interesting Take on the Kosovo Situation.

[rjones2818]

Washington Gets a New Colony in the Balkans: Kosovo’s "independence." by by http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/washington-gets-a-new-colony-in-the-balkans/">Sara Flounders

In evaluating the recent “declaration of independence” by Kosovo, a province of Serbia, and its immediate recognition as a state by the U.S., Germany, Britain and France, it is important to know three things.

First, Kosovo is not gaining independence or even minimal self-government. It will be run by an appointed High Representative and bodies appointed by the U.S., European Union and NATO. An old-style colonial viceroy and imperialist administrators will have control over foreign and domestic policy. U.S. imperialism has merely consolidated its direct control of a totally dependent colony in the heart of the Balkans.

Ugh! This is fascinating, although not surprising. It sounds like part of the plan to surround Russia with pliant states. I suppose it's a good thing that they don't have access to the Adriatic. The question is will Montenegro or Albania 'join' this movement.

Second, Washington’s immediate recognition of Kosovo confirms once again that U.S. imperialism will break any and every treaty or international agreement it has ever signed, including agreements it drafted and imposed by force and violence on others.

The article goes on to point out that Kosovo's 'independence' violates UN Security Council Resolution 1244. This is the document the then Yugoslavia was forced to sign at the end of the UN bombing campaign in 1999. The document affirmed the territorial integrity of Serbia, which Kosovo was part of. Kosovo is considered by many to be the http://www.serbia-info.com/news/1999-07/25/13536.html">spirtual heartland of the Serbs.

Thirdly, U.S. imperialist domination does not benefit the occupied people. Kosovo after nine years of direct NATO military occupation has a staggering 60 percent unemployment rate. It has become a center of the international drug trade and of prostitution rings in Europe.

How well are things holding up economically for the people of Kosovo?

Over 250,000 Serbian, Romani and other nationalities have been driven out of this Serbian province since it came under U.S./NATO control. Almost a quarter of the Albanian population has been forced to leave in order to find work.

The article points out thta Camp Bondsteel, a US military base, is being built. Haliburton is building it. It guards the strategic oil and transporation links. I wonder if they'll be privatized?

How did this colonial plan come about? It was proposed by the same forces responsible for the breakup of Yugoslavia and the NATO bombing and occupation of Kosovo.

The UN appointed former Finnish President Marti Ahtisaari as the special envoy to settle the 'final status' of Kosovo. A former Finish President sounds like a good, neutral, third party. He's also chairman emeritus of the International Crisis Group (ICG). The article then looks at the ICG:

The board of the ICG includes two key U.S. officials responsible for the bombing of Kosovo: Gen. Wesley Clark and Zbigniew Brzezinski. In March 2007, Ahtisaari gave his Comprehensive Proposal for Kosovo Status Settlement to the new U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon.

Hmmm...Wes and Ziggy. One's a major foreign policy advisor and endorser for Clinton, while the other is Obama's main foreign policy advisor. Pardon me while I shudder. A summary of the document is http://www.dissidentvoice.org/2008/02/washington-gets-a-new-colony-in-the-balkans/">here.

And just how 'free' will the Kosovars be?

These bodies and the ICR will have final say over what crimes can be prosecuted and against whom; they can reverse or annul any decision made. The largest prison in Kosovo is at the U.S. base, Camp Bondsteel, where prisoners are held without charges, judicial overview or representation.

And if you remember how horribly the Kosovars were being treated by the Serbs, the article points this out:

Expecting to find bodies everywhere, forensic teams from 17 NATO countries organized by the Hague Tribunal on War Crimes searched occupied Kosovo all summer of 1999 but found a total of only 2,108 bodies, of all nationalities. Some had been killed by NATO bombing and some in the war between the UCK and the Serbian police and military. They found not one mass grave and could produce no evidence of massacres or of “genocide.”

This stunning rebuttal of the imperialist propaganda comes from a report released by the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte. It was covered, but without fanfare, in the New York Times of Nov. 11, 1999.

The wild propaganda of genocide and tales of mass graves were as false as the later claims that Iraq had and was preparing to use “weapons of mass destruction.”

It's something to consider while celebrating the independence of Kosovo. Is it a good thing? Only time will tell.