Chapter 16. Future Plans for Dismemberment

By Joseph Yuskaitis

If the intentional break up of Yugoslavia by the West constitutes a war crime against peace, then so does the continuation of that process and the future plans to dismember its remaining provinces. The evidence for such a policy, despite the cessation of the bombing and the signing of a peace agreement on June 3, 1999, exists not only in the statements of U.S. and NATO leaders, but in actions intended to destabilize the region.

For example, a recent statement by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, in which she indicated that "We are making it quite clear that we don't see Milosevic in the future,"¹ expresses U.S. intentions to oust the Serbian leaders. This together with the signing of a secret presidential "finding" authorizing the CIA to bring down the Milosevic government and the CIA's covert action plan to "disrupt Milosevic's private financial transactions and electronically drain his overseas bank accounts,"² amount to a clear intrusion into the internal affairs of a sovereign country.

In another statement, Carl Bildt, the front runner for the post of UN Special Envoy to the Balkans and co-chairman of the peace talks in Dayton, indicated that he hoped "that Kosovo would be a de facto UN protectorate" and what was needed was "not an exit strategy from Bosnia but an entry strategy for the Balkans as a whole."³ He went further to say that "the EU should provide the Balkan states with a clear blue print for reforms that would pave the way for close integration, if not full membership, of the EU. This would entail a transfer of sovereignty to EU institutions in matters of economic and structural issues."⁴

In addition, the New York Times has reported that NATO sources have indicated that the organization wants to turn Kosovo into a UN protectorate "walled off" from Yugoslavia and envisioning full Albanian independence within a few years. This would include separate judicial systems and police forces, the U.S. dollar or deutchmark as the currency and where the Kosovars would not be required to pay taxes to the Yugoslavian government or serve in the army."⁵

To accomplish these goals, the U.S. and NATO have taken on the Serbs to gain a foothold within the surrounding countries and even within the province of Montenegro. Tanjug news agency reported that John Heard, a former U.S. military officer currently in Macedonia as director of Brown and Roots Group, was instructed to build military infrastructure in Macedonia to be used within three to five years, indicating NATO's intention to occupy the area for the period despite the lack of formal consent by the Macedonian government for foreign troops to remain there.⁶

In Montenegro, the pro-Western government of Milo Djukanovic met with Madeleine Albright on June 9, 1999, where "he received assurances of continued U.S. support and reaffirmed his earlier offer to provide logistic support to NATO operations in Kosovo."⁷ As special U.S. Envoy to the Balkans Ambassador Gelbard confirmed, "We've provided some $20 million so far with, I expect, about the same additional amount in the foreseeable future."⁸

There has also been an exemption for all embargoes during the conflict and Montenegrin ships have been allowed to enter the U.S.⁹ Ambassador Gelbard’s meetings with opposition Serbian leaders in Montenegro and his statements regarding his preference for the more market-oriented government for Montenegro were characterized as conspiratorial by the regime in Belgrade. He said "We feel very strongly that Montenegro represents a very good example to the people of Yugoslavia and particularly to the people of Serbia of what can happen when a democratic system, in an effort to establish a market-oriented economy, is put into place."¹⁰

In contrast to this strong support for the pro-capitalist policies of Montenegro, however, President Clinton has stated that "not one cent" will go to Yugoslavia while Milosevic is in power."¹¹ And a recent amendment to a foreign aid bill passed by the Senate on June 30 designating Yugoslavia as a terrorist state has officially disqualified Yugoslavia from U.S. aid. In addition, a war crimes indictment has been issued by the Hague and a $5 million bounty has been offered for the capture of Milosevic.¹²

In northern Serbia, in the province of Vojvodina, where some 350,000 ethnic Hungarians reside, encouragement has come from one of NATO's newly accepted members, Hungary, for the establishment of autonomy not unlike what has been demanded by the Albanian Kosovars. With fears of ethnic clashes as an outgrowth of the war, Hungarian leaders meeting with Defense Secretary William Cohen asked that "the alliance use military force on behalf of the ethnic minority in Vojvodina."¹³ Jozsef Kasza, a Vojvodina leader, has said that an autonomy plan has already been agreed to by ethnic Hungarians and Hungarian government experts.¹⁴

Additional efforts to destabilize the Yugoslavian government have come in the form of a media initiative planned by the U.S. Information Agency that would transmit Western news and propaganda on six radio stations on the Serbian border 24 hours a day.¹⁵ James Rubin, the U.S. State Department spokesman, has indicated that for such efforts "to promote democracy…we are spending $15 million in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, including $2 million for independent TV." Significant funding has also come from the EU and George Soros’ Open Society Institute.¹⁶

In summary, the plans for the break up of Yugoslavia were implemented as early as 1990 when the U.S. Congress passed the Foreign Operations Appropriations Law 101-513 cutting off all credits and loans to Yugoslavia and demanding elections in six of the separate provinces.¹⁷ Furthermore, the U.S. support of the Albanian lobby as early as the 1980s¹⁸ and later support for the Kosovo Liberation Army, which is linked to major drug trafficking throughout Europe,¹⁹ has contributed to the destabilization of Kosovo. The status of the province has become a difficult question, however.

Western leaders at a meeting in Brussels on July 13 have focused on "Kosovo’s economic relationship with Serbia … because much of Kosovo’s infrastructure, including the road network and power and water supplies, are inextricably linked with the rest of Yugoslavia."²⁰ Western efforts to focus further attention on Serbia, as well as Macedonia, Montenegro and Vojvodina, forebode additional conflict in the region.

In fact, a CIA covert action, code named "Roots," has as its objective "the destruction of Yugoslavia through the loss of Kosovo, Montenegro, and Vojvodina.²¹ Under this plan, the CIA in collaboration with the German Secret Service has sought to isolate Kosovo "as the principle source of raw materials for Yugoslavia, through a comprehensive autonomy, by Albanian annexation or total independence, the secession of Montenegro, it’s the only remaining access to the Adriatic, and the dislocation of Vojvodina, the "bread basket" and another source of raw materials for Yugoslavia, leading to the total collapse of Yugoslavia as a sovereign, viable industrial state."²²

Beyond Yugoslavia, the sovereignty issue will also become a question in countries having substantial ethnic populations. Romania, for example, having a sizeable Hungarian population in Transylvania, has recently expressed concern over statements made by NATO supreme allied commander Wesley Clark indicating that he felt the 1918 Versailles Principles were outdated.²³ In the Caucus countries of Azerbaijan, Armenia, and Georgia, national leaders have similarly expressed a desire for NATO action and a comparison of their ethnic populations with that of Kosovo.²⁴ However, some NATO policy analysts have suggested a more sinister motive for future operations by NATO throughout Eastern Europe and into the Caspian Sea Region—that is a competition for the control of rich oil reserves which will b e needed in the 21^st century.²⁵

Others, such as the Secretary General of the new Communist Party in Yugoslavia (NKPY), have even suggested that the real motivations for NATO may be in preparation for an aggression against Russia.²⁶ The Russians seem to be taking this seriously since under Tony Blair’s "internationalism" any country can be declared a "rogue state." They have responded by "announcing plans to deploy new tactical nuclear weapons near Russia’s Western border" while "Russia’s National Security Council has quietly dropped its long-standing doctrine of ‘no first use’ on nuclear weapons.²⁷

Whatever the motivations of the U.S. and NATO are, the unsettling words of their leaders have been announced. NATO Supreme Commander Wesley Clark does not "exclude the alliance’s operations similar to the one in Yugoslavia in the future. The success of NATO in Kosovo is a decisive precedent for the next century."²⁸ And in the words of President Clinton speaking to the aircrews at Whitman Airforce Base in Missouri, on June 11, "victory over Yugoslavia probably will not be our last venture."²⁹ And again his address to U.S. troops gathered in Skopje Airport "The Alliance could intervene—in Africa or Central Europe. We will not allow, only because of differences in ethnic background or religion or racism, people to be attacked. …We will stop that. We can do it now, we can do it tomorrow if it becomes necessary somewhere else."³⁰

Notes

1 Douglas Waller, "Tearing Down Milosevic," Time, July 12, 1999.

2 Ibid.

3 Charlie Magne, "Carl Bilot, A Good Balkan Swede," The Economist, June 12, 1999.

4 Ibid.

5 New York, ITAR-TASS, June 12, 1999.

6 Tanjug, Belgrade, "The Wall Street Journal: Pentagon Has Planned the War Against Yugoslavia," April 16, 1999; (Serbia Info News web site, posted April 29, 1999: www.serbia-info.com).

7 "Montenegrin Faction Presses for Independence," Stratfor’s Global Intelligence Update, June 17, 1999.

8 Transcript: Special U.S. Envoy to Balkans Gelbard, Worldnet Television, United States Information Agency, July 7, 1999.

9 Ibid.

10 Ibid.

11 Aleksandar Vasovic, Cacak, Yugoslavia, AP, June 29, 1999.

12 Op. Cit., no. 1.

13 Ben Barber, "Hungry Puts New Pressure on Serbia," The Washington Times, July 15, 1999.

14 "Budapest, Hungary, AFP, "Budapest Backs Autonomy Plan for Serbia’s Ethnic Hungarians," June 17, 1999.

15 Op. Cit, no. 1.

16 Gregory Elich, "Carving Another Slice from Yugoslavia," Covert Action Quarterly, Spring-Summer, 1999.

17 Sara Flounders, "Bosnia Tragedy: The Unknown Role of the Pentagon," NATO in the Balkans, 1998, p 48.

18 Diana Johnstone, "Greater NATO Flies to the Aid of Greater Albania," Covert Action Quarterly, Spring-Summer 1999.

19 Op. Cit, no. 17.

20 "Kosovo Rebuild Starts from Scratch," Independent (London), July 13, 1999.

21 Statement of an Insider of the Government Apparatus in Bonn Germany, issued to Jurgen Reents, Press Spokesman of PDS at the German Federal Parliament, April 8, 1999.

22 Ibid.

23 Bucharest, Romania (Adevarul), June 28, 1999.

24 Baku, AFP, July 6, 1999.

25 Sean Gervasi, "Why is NATO in Yugoslavia?" NATO in the Balkans, 1998, p 32.

26 Statement of the Secretariat of the New Communist Party of Yugoslavia, "Aggressors Can’t be Peacekeepers," June 8, 1999.

27 John Pilger, "Humanitarian Intervention is the Latest Brand Name of Imperialism as it begins a Return to Respectability," The New Statesman, June 28, 1999.

28 Bonn, ITAR-TASS, "NATO General Doesn’t Exclude More Military Operations in the Future," June 27, 1999.

29 Robert Novak, "Balkan Unity a Delusion," Sun Times, June 21, 1999.

30 Skopje, Macedonia, AFP, June 22, 1999.

Commission of Inquiry
c/o International Action Center
39 West 14^th Street, Room 206
New York, NY 10011
email: iacenter@iacenter.org
http://www.iacenter.org
phone: 212 633-6646
fax: 212 633-2889

war crimes

Table of Contents: Selected Research Findings