Bill Ayers speaks out! An In These Times exclusive.

‘The Kosovo Dilemma’ goes astray

The 1999 NATO-led bombing against Serbia was a humanitarian intervention, not a U.S. and European power grab

By Paul Hockenos

Stuart Anderson’s “The Kosovo Dilemma” (5/14/08) is badly in need of correction. As I have argued before in these pages, the 1999 NATO-led bombing campaign against Serbia was a legitimate humanitarian intervention designed to halt the persecution of Kosovar Albanians in Kosovo. In 1998 during the first phase of the 1998-1999 war, the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), acting against an… return to article

  • subscribe to print magazine

  • Zoom OutZoom In Reader Comments (25)

    Page 1 of 1 pages

    Paul,
    It is absolutely clear that it is you who spread anti Serb propaganda. It is not a secret that Kosovo is a hub of human trafficking and info about it for years are published by Western media.

    One of the last is revelation by Ms. Del Ponte about 300 young Serbs killed by Albanians for human organs.

    But regardless of all of this you are asking:

    “It is positively ludicrous to attribute an economic motive to the Kosovo intervention. What could the countries of Western Europe and North America possibly gain in terms of trade or treasure from the campaign against Serbia or even an independent Kosovo?”

    Could you explain to me, please, why the bombing of Serbia started after rejection by Yugoslavia presented to her Appendix B in Rambouillet conference?

    This Appendix was very similar to SOFA presented now to Iraqi puppet government. As you know al Sadr and even al Sistani opposed to it.

    And also, why US build in Kosovo one of the biggest military base, Camp Bondsteal, if Kosovo doesn’t represent any economic or strategic interest to US?

    What about the way of planed pipelines such as NABUCO or South Stream going from Caspian See basin to Europe?

    Why Hitler was trying to occupy the Balkans and pushed toward Baku oil reserves?

    Don’t assume that everybody is so naive as you think.

    Germany Posted by yacek1 on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:15 AM

    “In 1998 during the first phase of the 1998-1999 war, the Yugoslav National Army (JNA), acting against an unarmed civilian population, forced 300,000 ethnic Albanians from their homes.”

    That’s one way to look at the situation.  However, it should be noted that thousands of Albanians crossed the border into Greece, Macedonia and Serbia (mainly Kosovo) during the 90s.  After Milosevic’s Kosovo Polje speech the Yugoslav authorities started (far too late) a passport verification programme and began to expel illegal immigrants.  We don’t describe this as ‘ethnic cleansing’ when applied to western Europe, so why would we use that term in the case of Serbia.

    The Albanians leaving Kosovo back to their country in large numbers began right after Nato’s bombardments started, and this seems quite natural.  The murderous activities of the KLA against Serbs and even of their own who community who didn’t agree with their objectives was reason for the YU authorities for a heavy crackdown.

    Greece too expelled tens of thousands, but they didn’t have to cope with a KLA, meaning no military operations.  This was different in Macedonia, but violence there subsided, partly due to international mediation.  This could have been the policy in Serbia too, but the West decided otherwise.  We see the results of the illegal interference in Serbia’s affairs today—mayhem and distress.  However, we haven’t witnessed (former) leaders of the responsible Nato countries defending their case yet in a court of law.

    I regard the Western press as one of the culprits because of its spreading of KLA propaganda, unhindered by, it must be said, counter-offensive openness from Belgrade.  The anti-’Serb’ bias in the media is still easily to detect.

    Rgds - JJ

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:46 AM

    Dobrica Cosic Former Serbian President “We lie to deceive ourselves, to console others; we lie for mercy, we lie to fight fear, to encourage ourselves, to hide our and somebody else’s misery. We lie for love and honesty. We lie because of freedom. Lying ie is the trait of our patriotism and the proof of our innate smartness. We lie creatively, imaginatively, inventively.”

    Six pivotal themes in Serbian propaganda are:

    1. Victimization, in which Serbs were constructed as collective victims first of the NDH, then of Tito’s Yugoslavia, and more specifically of Croats, Albanians, Bosnians, and other non-Serbs.

    2. Dehumanization of designated ‘others’, in which Croats were depicted as ‘genocidal’ and as ‘Ustaše’, Bosnians were portrayed as ‘fanatical fundamentalists’, and Albanians were represented as not fully human. These processes of dehumanization effectively removed these designated ‘others’ from the moral field, sanctifying their murder or expulsion.

    3. Belittlement, in which Serbia’s enemies were represented as
    beneath contempt.

    4. Conspiracy, in which Croats, Slovenes, Albanians, the Vatican,
    Germany, Austria, and sometimes also the Bosnians as well as the U.S. and other foreign states, were seen as united in a conspiracy to break up the SFRY and hurt Serbia. In this way, the Belgrade regime’s obstinate disregard for the fundamental standards of international law was dressed up as heroic defiance of an anti-Serb conspiracy.

    5. Entitlement, in which the Serbs were constructed as ‘entitled’ to create a Greater
    Serbian state to which parts of Croatia and Bosnia would be attached, under the motto,’ All Serbs should live in one state.’

    6. Superhuman powers and divine sanction. The Serbs were told that they were, in some sense, “super”. They were the best fighters on the planet, they could stand up to the entire world, and they were sanctioned by God himself, because of Tsar Lazar and the fact that Lazar had chosen the heavenly kingdom. Moreover, since Lazar had chosen the heavenly kingdom, the Serbs, encouraged to view themselves as Lazar’s heirs, were entitled to the earthly kingdom which Lazar had repudiated, as their patrimony.

    Serbian society began to stray down the path to war more or less unwittingly. Already in the years 1981—86, long before the other republics experienced anything like a ‘national awakening’, Serbia (and here one may include Kosovo too) was already sliding into a syndrome in which myths, threats, the allure of victory, and
    belligerent rhetoric filled the public discourse, giving Serbs a sense of common destiny but also separating them, psychologically, from the other peoples of socialist Yugoslavia. That this was an unhealthy state of collective mind is clear from the prominence of the themes of victimization, conspiracy, national entitlement, and divine sanction of the Serbian national project, as well as from the insistent campaigns of dehumanization, demonization, and belittlement of Croats, Bosnian Muslims, and Albanians, as well as other peoples and states, which began at this time. This syndrome, in an individual, would be considered psychotic; to the extent that it permeated much of Serbian society, perhaps especially in the countryside, one may speak of Serbia having been sucked into a kind of collective psychosis. And to the extent that Serbian war propaganda aimed at reinforcing and stimulating this state of mind, we may say that it aimed at inculcating and reinforcing neurotic and psychotic syndromes in Serbian society. This psychosis had its cultic saints – portraitsof Milošević and Chetnik leader Draža Mihailović were often displayed alongside those of saints canonized by the Church – had its bards (such as Simonida Stanković and Ceca Ražnjatović), and even had its offi

    United States Posted by Albiqete on Jun 25, 2008 at 8:14 AM

    official music – “turbo-folk”, a pop mixtureof folk-ethnic style with a rhythmic pounding beat. Moreover, this psychosis could even transport those infected to a state of consciousness which they mistook for a better world. Miloševi, for example, arriving dramatically at Kosovo polje in a helicopter on 28 June 1989, told those gathered for the six hundredth anniversary of Serbia’s mythic confrontation with its national destiny, that in that
    the - century battle, Serbia had defended not just herself but all of European culture and civilization. Fine oratory might even be called the elixir of national psychosis.

    United States Posted by Albiqete on Jun 25, 2008 at 8:19 AM

    I don’t like spinach either.  Though I see no reason to write about it.  :o)

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 25, 2008 at 9:40 AM

    Well I see people really basing their arguments on their feelings rather than look back at the truth. jjvanka says that the International Community should have worked out a peaceful deal with the regime at a time and not bomb Serbia. is she aware of the negotiations that went on and on and on with Holbrook and Clarcke forever. They negotiated literally 24/7 but Milosevis wasnt someone who would make deals on negotiations. he understood only the hard way. People forget that in Bosnia they tried to negotiate for years and he never backed off and kept killing innocent people, they also forget that Serbia led by Milosevic fought with Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and than started the war in Kosovo. Did you ever stepped back and think who might be the real reason for the destruction of YU and thousands of innocent victims? Kosovo was part of the YU confederation and had its own representatives in the YU assembly. Serbia wanted Kosovo without Albanians. I grew up in kosovo and feared speaking my own language, we were treated like animals and the whole education facilities were taken away from us, children have been poisened in classes, misterious killings happened all the time, we were afraid to go out after the dark fell on the city. This was the politics and the reality on the ground which people outside the box never saw.
    The suffering was there for ages, but it took long time for the Int. community to act against the dictator. If Serbs are ready to make peace Albanians have still been there and offering the hand to work together as neighbours, but I think that was too nice of Albanian government.
    Think again and look what happened, the world did not support Kosovo just because they had any particular interest, something terrible happened to those people.

    P.S. Regarding del Pontes comments, she had no proof whatsoever and I think Kosovo’s government should have sued her.

    United States Posted by Dimal on Jun 25, 2008 at 10:04 AM

    “Well I see people really basing their arguments on their feelings rather than look back at the truth.”

    Very true.  Now read your own comment.
    I feel sorry for those who became the victim of all this, Serbs as well as Albanians.  Had the Albanians themselves dealt properly with the KLA instead of fearfully obeying them, there wouldn’t have been a reason for a Serbian crackdown on the armed uprising which was performed by a bunch of Albania lobby financed thugs, armed and trained by the US.
    For some reason the West wanted an end to Serbia’s domination in the region.  That succeeded, but the game ended (did it?) without winners - lots of losers though.  You may consider yourself lucky, living in a land of milk and honey (although the milk turned a bit sour during the years), and not in the beggars’ paradise called Kosova.
    High time to present the check: I would sue Nato if I were you.
    Rgds - JJ

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 25, 2008 at 1:17 PM

    I am not sure where to start so I will add a few minor details:

    DAVID BINDER
    David Binder is far from a Serb apologist.  He is an accomplished journalist that covered the Balkans for many years for the New York Times.

    RACAK
    The Serbs had OSCE representatives and French journalists when they took Racak. 

    RAMBOUILLET
    James Ruben, the number 2 man behind Madeline Albright admitted that the bar in Rambouillet was set too high for Serbia to accept.

    CONTEXT
    I would advise everyone interested in the history and politics of Kosovo to read the host of reports from Binder and others on Kosovo from 1981-1989.  The catalog is online.

    And, I would also recommend that everyone read the editorials on Bosnia by Charles Boyd in Foreign Affairs and the New York Times.  Boyd was the head US military representative in Europe during the war in Bosnia.

    And, for that matter, read the editorials by George Kenney of the Department of State.

    United States Posted by trkac on Jun 25, 2008 at 4:17 PM

    Neither Albiqete or Paul answered my questions.

    1. Why US spent $300 millions to build Camp Bondsteal in Kosovo?

    The new question. If it was a humanitarian intervention of NATO against Yugoslav forces in Kosovo, why did NATO dropped bombs on Belgrade and even Novi Sad? These two cities are hundred kilometers north of Kosovo. So why did they bomb RTV tower, hospitals, power stations, trains, bridges etc. Why??????

    Germany Posted by yacek1 on Jun 25, 2008 at 5:31 PM

    to:jj

    No one obeyed KLA, no one feared them, KLA was born as a result of unhappiness of the Albanian people. KLA had no centralized headquarters, it was guerillas fighting the regime. So you are saying that all this started with KLA? WHat before that? You really seem to have fallen a victim of the RTS propaganda which kept the dilusional imaginations of the Serbian minds. That is why they bombed RTS tower.

    We have suffered and so did the Serbian people, but Albanians suffered from Serbs and Serbs suffered as a result of their wrong-doings which was killing innocent victims.

    I still cannot understand what on earth makes you think that Serbian people have been victims, and even if so that has been as a result of their own actions for a long period of time.

    What about the TRUTH that Serbia broke the whole YU?

    United States Posted by Dimal on Jun 25, 2008 at 6:23 PM

    Can you accept the fact that Milosevic can be compared to Hitler? If so, do you think that he proclaimed himself a president or you, the Serbian people voted him again and again because he promised you Serboslavia?
    Are you trying to say that Milosevic’s regime had the right to do all the attrocities in Kosovo (15 thousand dead) and Bosnia (over 200 thousand)?

    If you say that the politics of the time were right, but International Community shouldnt have taken action than I rest my case my dear friend. I am sure you are speaking from somewhere where there has never been war nor suffering.

    Wake up, think straight based on facts because Serbia still holds 2000 dead Albanian bodies hidden in mass graves, their mums are crying back home to giive their sons and daughters a decent barriel.

    Read what your co-patriot has to say, who by far sees things differently to what you do
    http://www.signandsight.com/features/1582.html

    United States Posted by Dimal on Jun 25, 2008 at 6:33 PM

    I see.
    America is a pretty isolated place, isn’t it.  But there’s an Internet now and you’re allowed to use it, which I recommend.
    - The KLA fought the regime.  That’s why the security forces marched in.  Before that the Albanian communities rejected non-Albanians and did their best to get rid of them—nothing changed since then (remember 2004, pogroms under the eyes of Nato troops).
    - Bombing the RTS was a war crime, since it was a non-military target.  The objective to silence broadcasts failed.
    - Serbs and other ethnicities suffered from the consequences of the embargo for years, from Nato’s bombs and the poisoned environment caused by that—the Albanians too, btw.
    - Blaming the victims for their own suffering is silly—‘You made me do that’.
    - YU was broken by the nationalist movements who gained the West’s support after Tito left the scene.  ‘Divide and conquer’ has always been our policy of choice.  It doesn’t produce many friends.
    Rgds - JJ

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:03 PM

    “Can you accept the fact that Milosevic can be compared to Hitler?”
    You can compare anything with anything.  But very often it doesn’t hold water because its objective is propagandistic.  Milo did what’s expected from a president: standing up for the rights of minorities (in this case Serbs in KosMet) and defending the state against foreign aggression (Nato).  He was not popular within Serbia like Bush is in the US, which makes one realize that democracies can be manipulated too.  Anyway, Hitler was a mass-killer and an agressor.  The fact that he crossed the border made him a legal target (you’re free to compare this with Clinton’s and Bush’s actions).
    For all those people who died in the YU wars it’s nonsensical to blame Milo—the American way to focus the crowd on one ‘demon’.  Try Napoleon, Hitler, Djengis Khan and Caesar if you want clapping hands on that subject.

    Indeed, the Western powers shouldn’t have interfered in YU, but they followed their agenda as they always do, regardless legal drawbacks.  On the other hand, it’s good that they did it in the case that there was a legal base: WW2.  Otherwise my German would have been a lot better than it is now.
    - About bodies after a war: it can take decades for them to be found, if ever.  But usually they’re ‘missing’ and quite often very much alive (and hiding).
    And thanks for the link you provided; it proves that not all Serbians think along the same line.  :-)
    On the co-patriot joke: hover your mouse over my flag and pick up something basic.
    Natën e mirë - JJ

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 25, 2008 at 7:48 PM

    P/s - Kosovo Albanians are Serbians too, just like Hungarians in Vojvodina and Croats living in the White City.  :o)

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 25, 2008 at 8:09 PM

    Dear jjvanka (Jovanka I presume)

    I have been working with the OSCE verification mission in Kosovo during the Milisevic regime, whose police (or milicija) gave me a persona non-grata stamp in my passport (smth I am very proud of), and I have been working with the United Nations mission in Kosovo until few months ago.

    Let me tell you one thing which is first hand information. And by the way, I am not biased here at any way. Yes it is true that I disliked the Serbia during Milosevices time (who by the way I do compare to Hitler), but right now they are all the same to me, Albanians and Serbs. During 1998-1999 Albainans had no rights whatsoever, and I never came across any reports of rapes of Kosovo-Serbian girls by Kosovo-Albanians, or anything at all for that matter. Albanians had no rights at all in Kosovo, and it seemed that Srebrenica massacre gave the feeling of superiority to Serbs who thought they can do anything and get away with it. Don’t forget people, it is the Serbians who committed the biggest massacre, the biggest genocide in Europe after WWII. 6000 people executed because they were not Serbians. So I apologize if Serbians are not my favorite nation in the world. To get back to my point, Serbian people have more rights in Kosovo now than Kosovo-Albanian ever had in Yugoslavia since the death of Tito. I know because I monitored the situation in field for years. So please, nor you, Paul or Dimmal should say anything unless you have been out there.

    Both Ks-Serbs and KS-Albanians CAN live good together, unless the radicals prevails in Serbia and kill more international peace keepers, otherwise, another conflict can easily brake. Serbia made its mistakes throughout history, but you can always change (for good of course)

    Germany Posted by Lubach on Jun 26, 2008 at 5:21 AM

    Rambouillet Agreement
    Appendix B: Status of Multi-National Military Implementation Force
    […]
    6. a. NATO shall be immune from all legal process, whether civil, administrative, or criminal.
    b. NATO personnel, under all circumstances and at all times, shall be immune from the Parties’ jurisdiction in respect of any civil, administrative, criminal, or disciplinary offenses which may be committed by them in the FRY. The Parties shall assist States participating in the Operation in the exercise of their jurisdiction over their own nationals.
    c. Notwithstanding the above, and with the NATO Commander’s express agreement in each case, the authorities in the FRY may exceptionally exercise jurisdiction in such matters, but only in respect of Contractor personnel who are not subject to the jurisdiction of their nation of citizenship.
    7. NATO personnel shall be immune from any form of arrest, investigation, or detention by the authorities in the FRY. NATO personnel erroneously arrested or detained shall immediately be turned over to NATO authorities.
    8. NATO personnel shall enjoy, together with their vehicles, vessels, aircraft, and equipment, free and unrestricted passage and unimpeded access throughout the FRY including associated airspace and territorial waters. This shall include, but not be limited to, the right of bivouac, maneuver, billet, and utilization of any areas or facilities as required for support, training, and operations.
    9. NATO shall be exempt from duties, taxes, and other charges and inspections and custom regulations including providing inventories or other routine customs documentation, for personnel, vehicles, vessels, aircraft, equipment, supplies, and provisions entering, exiting, or transiting the territory of the FRY in support of the Operation.
    10. The authorities in the FRY shall facilitate, on a priority basis and with all appropriate means, all movement of personnel, vehicles, vessels, aircraft, equipment, or supplies, through or in the airspace, ports, airports, or roads used. No charges may be assessed against NATO for air navigation, landing, or takeoff of aircraft, whether government-owned or chartered. Similarly, no duties, dues, tolls or charges may be assessed against NATO ships, whether government-owned or chartered, for the mere entry and exit of ports. Vehicles, vessels, and aircraft used in support of the Operation shall not be subject to licensing or registration requirements, nor commercial insurance.
    11. NATO is granted the use of airports, roads, rails, and ports without payment of fees, duties, dues, tolls, or charges occasioned by mere use. NATO shall not, however, claim exemption from reasonable charges for specific services requested and received, but operations/movement and access shall not be allowed to be impeded pending payment for such services.
    […]
    What country would agree to such demands? It is very similar to SOFA negotiated with Iraq right now.
    It is clear why NATO attacked Yugoslavia and why the Camp Bondsteal is there. Balkans is a very important strategic point. No wander that Balkans were center of WWI and WWII theater. Could be the center of WWIII if US and Germany will not back out.

    Germany Posted by yacek1 on Jun 26, 2008 at 6:07 AM

    Paul Hockenos supported the US war against Yugoslavia at the time, and he continues to support it today. For an alternative viewpoint, see the excellent work by Diana Johnstone, for example her piece on CounterPunch in February this year.

    http://www.counterpunch.org/johnstone02182008.html

    Diana Johnstone used to write for In These Times. Clinton’s Kosovo war, quite popular at the time among the Mainstream Media, paved the way for George Bush’s invasion and occupation of Iraq. 

    And the popularity of the wars against Yugoslavia and Iraq (at least until Iraq started to unravel) is not limited to the Mainstream Media, but includes some leftists as well, who call themselves the “Patriotic Left”. Edward Herman calls them the “Cruise Missile Left” which seems more appropriate. Hockenos is one of them.  Herman’s critique of the “Cruise Missile Left” can be found by Google.

    United States Posted by Nevada_Ned on Jun 26, 2008 at 10:05 AM

    Dear Lubach,

    I do agree with your arguments which is based on some of your experience during your time there. I was there in 98-99 and I grew up there as a matter of fact and lived all those attrocities that you mentioned above. I do believe that we CAN and SHOULD find a way to live together and fordet all the nonsense wars which most of the new generations are suffering as a result.

    People do not know that the New Kosovo Constitution offers more rights to minorities than any other constitution out there, and I understand that it must be applied in order to work out and I am for the Albanian people to respect all the minorities. I know we can work out together but what i emphesized is JJ ignorance of the facts that happened on the ground. I worked for the EU in establishing UNMIK Customs and I know what the reality in the ground is.

    People must understand that after all the suffering it is not easy, or overnight things to accept the Serbs and forgive everything. I have friends who lost their families, but I never support the idea of revenge. We should work together, but I hate the fact that many Serbian people still believe in Serbian propaganda which takes place even today and they claim the right to own based on myths.

    Albanians showed a great deal of maturity on the last elections, which i think it should be respected, after the Declaration of Independence they still kept their cool and did not act against any serb enclave for revenge and I think these things are to be respected as it prooves that democracy and tolerance is prevailing.

    United States Posted by Dimal on Jun 26, 2008 at 1:57 PM

    Nevada…

    I read the article and diane must have issues because she talks about many things such as the speech of Milosevic which she considers to have been a speech of social issues discussed with serbs living in Kosovo. If Kosovo was part of Serbia which he was the president, why he didnt invite or why there werent any Albanians on that meeting which took place in Kosovo Polje (Fushe Kosove), since 90% of Kosovo is inhabited by ALbanians. And she claims that it wasnt a speech of hatred? She must have an issue of misunderstanding or a personal hatred toward Albanians. She doesnt justify the allience war against Milosevic, which wasnt neccessarily against Serbia, but him as he was the ones who decided Serbia’s fate and as a consequence they got bombed. She goes on to argue that Haradinaj got drunk with Shook and all nonsense with no facts whatsoever. Haradinaj was at the Hague and he was acquited so what you want more. He was tried and freed as a non guilty person and you are not happy.

    You are against all Western Europe, against USA, Canada, than who is good? Iran and Russia where is no freedom of speech or movement?
    thats what she is arguing which is nonsense and deffinetely an amateur writing

    United States Posted by Dimal on Jun 26, 2008 at 2:10 PM

    For anyone’s interest, there have been changes and the Serbs are viewed differently the minute they bring to a halt their dogmatic views of Albanians.

    An interested article which represents change and i always tend to look at the Serbian point of voew, those who are ready to challenge Serbian system of beliefs.

    http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/0627/p01s01-woeu.html?page=2

    United States Posted by Dimal on Jun 26, 2008 at 3:05 PM

    “So please, nor you, Paul or Dimmal should say anything unless you have been out there.”

    I’m speechless.
    JJ

    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 27, 2008 at 3:28 PM
    Netherlands Posted by jjvanka on Jun 28, 2008 at 8:57 AM

    Its an far more complicated situation in old Yougoslavia, its very old history, about religions, and ethnic tributes, the west have shosen the Islam this time, and the Roman Katholics, the Greek or Russian katholics are put down, its the same as in the time of the Byzantin emperium, their is no objectivety to be found, its friends and relations first, the bombing of Serbia wash only possible why the Russian had drunk to much Wodka, and that an president who is a liar, is not telling lies about the bombing of Serbia, that the Albanians toke the intestines from Serbian prisseners, and put them their afther to dead,wel reed the book from Mad. Ponti, but for people who where their, its one great lie, just made up by the free and democratic media’s, its not the first time, and it will be also not the last time, they lied to us, I think its now Iran, that has to be liberated, our free and democratic media’s are working hard on it.

    Germany Posted by geus on Jul 13, 2008 at 11:26 AM

    Paul Hockenos’s article is such a piece of shameless propaganda that one hardly knows where to begin to discredit it.  His theme is that the Serbs, in the grip of hyper-victimhood, had embarked on an orgy of ethnic cleansing, destabilizing Yugoslavia and requiring outside intervention.

    He neglects to mention that Serbia is one of the most multi-ethnic nations in Europe and remains so today and throughout all the bloodshed.  All ethnic groups within Serbia, enjoy the same individual rights.  The Croatian government declared all nonCroats to be 2nd class citizens.  By recognizing Croatia, the American government encouraged the illegal breakup of Yugoslavia without even demanding equal rights for minorities.  In fact, with U.S. military aid, half a million Serbs were expelled from their ancestral homes in Croatia and their property confiscated.  Croatia is now largely Serb free.

    The three ethnic groups in Bosnia had reached an agreement to peacefully partition Bosnia when the treacherous U.S. State Department encouraged the Muslim leader, Izetbegovic, to claim all of Bosnia.  It is U.S. and European meddling which led to escalating violence in Bosnia and throughout the rest of Yugoslavia, justifying NATO intervention to pretend to halt the violence!

    Albanians in Kosovo weren’t victims of Serbian oppression.  Why would hundreds of thousands of Albanian refugees illegally immigrate to Kosovo if it was such a hellhole?  The Albanians in Kosovo enjoyed an autonomy subsidized by the rest of Yugoslavia.  They had Albanian language schools and media.  Kosovo was a welfare state supported by the more prosperous republics.  It is the clannish nature of Albanian culture that made them intolerant of all other ethnic groups.  The Albanians in Kosovo were exploiting their autonomy to oppress the Serbs and to clamor for independence as was repeatedly documented by the NY Times, during the 1980’s. 

    The situation in Kosovo prior to the NATO bombings was at worst a low grade civil war similar to that in Northern Ireland.  The Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) was even labeled a terrorist organization by the CIA.  The “massacre” at Racak, the trigger for NATO intervention was a hoax perpetrated by the KLA as documented in independent autopsies. The bodies found in a pit were not of innocent civilians gunned down by Serb militias.  They were those of KLA terrorists killed in a firefight with the police, then stripped of their uniforms and dressed up in civilian clothes ready to stir up the gullible U.S. media.

    The same gullible media eagerly lapped up the horror stories of Serb sponsored genocide ladled out by the public relations firm hired by Albanians.  During the NATO bombings, we were told that hundreds of thousands of Albanians perished in stadiums and mine shafts.  Mass graves were everywhere.  Hundreds of thousands more Albanians were fleeing for their lives.  They were fleeing for their lives all right.  They were fleeing NATO’s indiscriminate bombings.  Thousands fled into Serbia to join the tens of thousands of Albanians already residing there.  Some genocide!  If NATO was really fighting genocide perpetrated by the Serb military why is it that the military was barely scratched while the civilian infrastructure throughout Serbia was devastated?

    NATO investigators scoured Kosovo searching for mass graves.  They discovered about 3,000 dead from all sides and from all causes. No mass graves were found.  Some genocide!  Of course this finding was suppressed by the American media as they refocused the McSheeps’ attention to the antics of celebrities.

    The “humanitarian” war on Serbia was as great a fraud as was the war on Iraq to seize WMD.  In light of the evidence it’s real purpose was to provide life support for NATO to reinvent itself as a force for “social justice” in order to perpetuate military careers and defense contracts.  What other explanation can there be for the massive military base in Kosovo, Camp Bondsteel?

    United States Posted by MetaCynic on Jul 13, 2008 at 3:51 PM

    MetaCynic, Europe is one big lie, en the citizen have nothing to say, no referendum, as promist, Yougoslavia is broken up, by the USA and some Europeęns on nice posts, well we can write day and night, you and I and lots of other people know that this whole Yougoslavia bussiness, is build on a big lie, we have to live with all the liars in this world, but time turns against theme, slowly but sure, the problem is that they have all the media, and most people are domp sheep. God bless you.

    Germany Posted by geus on Jul 14, 2008 at 5:38 AM
    Page 1 of 1 pages
  • register a new account »Posting Security

    To participate in our forums, please register for a free account.
Also by Paul Hockenos
Popular Discussions