Full Circle: NATO Completes Takeover Of Former Yugoslavia
By Rick Rozoff
URL of this article:www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=18318
Global Research, March 25, 2010
In 1991 the North Atlantic Treaty Organization was a nominally
defensive military bloc with sixteen members that, as the cliche
ran, had never fired a shot.
In 1991 the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was the only
simultaneously multiethnic and multiconfessional nation (entirely)
in Europe, consisting of six federated republics with diverse
constituencies.
By 2009 NATO had grown to 28 full members and at least that many
military partners throughout Europe and in Africa, the Caucasus,
the Middle East, Asia and the South Pacific. Next month NATO is to
hold a summit in Estonia to be attended by the foreign ministers
of 56 nations. Last month a meeting of NATO's Military Committee
in Brussels included the armed forces chiefs of 63 nations, almost
a third of the world's 192 countries.
By 2008 the former Yugoslavia has been fragmented into six recognized
nations (the former federal republics of Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia,
Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia) and a semi-recognized province of
Serbia, Kosovo.
Until the end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Warsaw
Pact and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics in 1991, NATO had
never staged operations outside the territory of its member states.
In 2004 it ran eight operations in four continents, including a
training mission in Iraq and combat deployments in Afghanistan. The
first former Yugoslav republic, Slovenia, was inducted into NATO
in that year along with six other Eastern European nations in the
bloc's largest-ever expansion.
The Alliance's first three military operations, however, all occurred
in the former Yugoslavia. In 1995 NATO launched Operation Deliberate
Force against the Republika Srpska with 400 aircraft and over 3,500
sorties and stationed troops in Bosnia afterward.
In 1999 it unleashed the relentless 78-day Operation Allied Force
air war against Yugoslavia and in June of that year deployed 50,000
troops to Kosovo.
Two years later it sent troops to and initiated the first of several
operations in Macedonia following an armed conflict in that country.
The three interventions preceded September 11, 2001.
After NATO invoked its Article 5 collective military assistance
clause following the latter date, NATO Partnership for Peace
affiliates as well as full member states started to deploy troops
to Afghanistan.
After the U.S. and British invasion of Iraq two years following
that, soldiers from Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and Slovenia were
deployed to the war zone in that nation to prove their loyalty as
NATO candidate countries. Montenegro did not gain its Western-backed
independence until 2006, but has already been levied for troops for
the Afghan war. Croatia was rewarded with full membership in 2009
and Macedonia would have accompanied it into the ranks of the world's
only military axis except for the lingering name dispute with Greece.
In December of 2008 the complete transfer of contributing states'
troops from Iraq to Afghanistan began and there are now military
personnel from five of the six former Yugoslav republics - Bosnia,
Croatia, Macedonia, Montenegro and Slovenia - committed to NATO in
the world's longest active and deadliest war theater.
In the post-Cold War epoch the former Yugoslavia has been the
laboratory for global NATO, its testing ground and battleground,
the prototype for the disintegration of nations and for their
transformation into economically nonviable monoethnic statelets and
Western military colonies.
The NATO military command in charge of the Balkans, Allied Joint
Force Command Naples formed in 2004, oversees the eleven-year NATO
military operation in Kosovo, Kosovo Force (KFOR), and has a
headquarters in Bosnia and in Macedonia and a new military liaison
office in Serbia. (Croatia and Slovenia are now full members.)
In addition to the Adriatic Charter initiative launched by the
United States in 2003, which successfully prepared Albania and
Croatia for NATO membership and is currently doing the same for
Macedonia, Bosnia and Montenegro with Serbia and Kosovo to follow,
the Allied Joint Force Command Naples is the major mechanism for
recruiting troops from former Yugoslav republics for wars abroad.
Particularly for that in Afghanistan, but the Naples command also
operates the NATO Training Mission - Iraq in Baghdad.
Considered by many observers as a major architect of the breakup
of Yugoslavia, Richard Holbrooke, now U.S. Special Representative
for Afghanistan and Pakistan, delivered an address in the Persian
Gulf state of Qatar last month in which he "drew parallels between
the Bosnian war and the onslaught against the Taliban in Afghanistan,"
and said:
"The U.S. has led and won similar wars in Kosovo and Bosnia with
the support of the international community. And we are very optimistic
about Afghanistan too." [1]
In the same month the parliament of the Republika Srpska passed a
law allowing for a referendum on its current status within Bosnia
- two years after the U.S. and almost all its NATO allies supported
and recognized the secession of Kosovo from Serbia - and U.S.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton reacted by stating that the
Barack Obama administration does "not want to see any moves to break
up Bosnia," and to insure the integrity of Bosnia (and breakaway
Kosovo also) she "reiterated Washington's support for EU and NATO
integration of Western Balkans countries, Serbia included."
"But the NATO piece of it, I'm watching very closely because...we
want Bosnia-Herzegovina to feel like they're welcome." [2]
Also in February, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for European
and Eurasian Affairs Philip Gordon sounded the same theme while
speaking at the Harvard Kennedy School. In a presentation called
The Obama Administration's Vision for Southeastern Europe, Gordon
said "To fully achieve European and therefore American security,
we believe that peace and stability should not only extend across
northern and central Europe, but also southeastern Europe," with
special emphasis on "Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Turkey."
[3]
In completing the incorporation of all of Southeastern Europe into
the U.S.-dominated military bloc, the current American administration
would put the capstone on "the historic project of trying to bring
democracy to the whole of Europe."
In particular, "the Obama administration will seek to position
Bosnia for future membership in the European Union and NATO," and
in reference to Serbia, "The door to NATO membership is open"."
According to Harvard's daily student newspaper, Gordon noted in his
speech that "yesterday marked the second anniversary of Kosovo's
independence: a sign that progress has been made." [4]
Earlier this month former NATO secretary general George Robertson
joined the chorus pushing the Alliance's absorption of the Balkans:
"Serbia can offer a lot....I believe it wants to become a part of
[the] European mainstream rather than to stay on the margins. All
the neighbors of Serbia will be members of the EU and NATO. I am
convinced that all the Western Balkan countries will be part of the
Alliance in ten years." [5]
Serbia, by far the most populous of all former Yugoslav states with
more than 7 million citizens, is receiving the most attention from
NATO at the moment.
Mary Warlick, newly appointed U.S. ambassador to the nation, recently
"announced that the door of NATO membership is open to Serbia" and
said "the United States fully supports the European and Euro-Atlantic
aspirations of Serbia and is doing all it can to facilitate Belgrade's
efforts in this direction." [6]
Her comments were reiterated by NATO's Supreme Allied Commander
Europe, the U.S.'s Admiral James Stavridis, who in early February
visited Serbia's capital "to establish personal relationships and
strengthen cooperation and partnership" and meet with the nation's
president, defense minister and chief of staff of the armed forces.
(NATO opened a military liaison office in Belgrade in December of
2006 when Serbia joined the bloc's Partnership for Peace program.)
Stavridis' NATO delegation was briefed "on the progress and continued
efforts to professionalize the Serb military" and "participated in
the annual National and Armed Forces Day reception." [7]
Last year the pro-Western government of President Boris Tadic signed
an Individual Partnership Program with NATO.
Recently the public affairs chief of the Serbian Ministry of Defense
announced that a "Serbian mission [to] NATO will be officially
opened by the beginning of June, which is in accordance with
participation in the program Partnership for Peace," and will be
staffed by six officers. [8]
On the same day, and to provide a blunt indication of what further
NATO integration means, a Serbian news source disclosed that troops
from the nation are being readied for peacekeeping deployments in
Uganda, Lebanon and a third nation as yet unidentified.
Whereas "the participation of the Serbian Army in international
peace operations has until now been limited to sending observers
and medical experts," the country's armed forces have "organized
courses [for] which Serbian experts will be enabled to participate
in infantry units and mine clearing units."
Moreover, military analyst Aleksandar Radic said "NATO and the EU
follow the participation of countries in peacekeeping missions very
closely. The countries in our region have understood that and started
participating in these missions in order to gain a reference for
joining international organizations. [9]
Serbian soldiers are inching ever closer to the Afghan war theater.
But not with the support of their countrymen.
Last month the results of a TNS Medium Gallup poll in Serbia showed
that "only 20 percent of Serbian citizens would support NATO
accession, which is four percent less than last year." [10]
In tandem with moves to drag Serbia deeper into the NATO nexus
despite widespread popular opposition, Brussels and Washington are
consolidating their hold on the other three former Yugoslav republics
not yet full NATO members:
Bosnia, Macedonia and Montenegro.
NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen and a delegation of
the permanent representatives of all 28 member states arrived in
Bosnia on March 23 to consult with leaders of the nation on a
Membership Action Plan, "an essential stepping stone on the road
toward alliance membership."
A senior official in Bosnia's Foreign Ministry announced that "We
expect that Bosnia will be invited to join [the] MAP in Tallinn,"
[11] a reference to the NATO foreign ministers meeting in Estonia
on April 10.
Earlier this month the chairman of the Council of Ministers of
Bosnia and Herzegovina, Nikola Spiric, visited NATO headquarters
in Brussels to meet with Rasmussen and to address the North Atlantic
Council.
"NATO Allies thanked Mr. Spiric for the invitation extended to the
North Atlantic Council to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina later this
month and looked forward to the next meeting of NATO Foreign Ministers
in April, when the Membership Action Plan for the country will be
discussed." [12]
A week earlier a high-level NATO delegation headed by Admiral Mark
Fitzgerald, commander of Allied Joint Force Command Naples, arrived
in the Macedonian capital of Skopje to meet with Prime Minister
Nikola Gruevski, Defense Minister Zoran Konjanovski and chief of
the Army General Staff Miroslav Stojanovski and discuss the Army
of the Republic of Macedonia's "contribution to the ISAF mission
in Afghanistan, the achievements of the Republic of Macedonia in
the implementation of reforms and the participation in the command
structure of the Alliance as well as ARM's progress in the application
of the NATO operation skills concept."
The delegation also inspected a military base in Krivolak where
Fitzgerald and his colleagues were "introduced to the new training
capacities and the project of its development into a regional
center." [13]
On February 22nd Boro Vucinic, Montenegro's defense minister, visited
NATO headquarters and met with Deputy Secretary General Claudio
Bisogniero. The latter "reaffirmed NATO's willingness to continue
providing relevant assistance and expertise to Montenegrin authorities"
and "expressed satisfaction with Montenegro's decision to become a
contributor to the ISAF mission in Afghanistan." [14]
In mid-March Admiral Fitzgerald was in Montenegro and at a press
conference expressed his satisfaction at his host nation's movement
toward the North Atlantic bloc, stating "he had witnessed a significant
improvement in the past two years," and said "Montenegro had
demonstrated it was a 'responsible and reliable partner' in the
membership process."
Speaker of the Parliament of Montenegro Ranko Krivokapic said that
NATO membership was a "national priority" and that for the Alliance
"it is also strategically important to have this part of the Adriatic
coast integrated into the NATO structure." [15]
On March 22 NATO's KFOR launched five days of exercises throughout
Kosovo in conjunction with the European Union's EULEX (European
Union Rule of Law Mission in Kosovo) and the separatist Kosovo
Police Service (KPS).
The drills are headed by NATO commander Markus Bentler.
In an allusion to Kosovo's ethnic Serb minority that KFOR, EULEX
and the KPS are training to subjugate in common, a KFOR statement
on the exercises said:
"KFOR will handle its force in Kosovo very flexibly and determinedly.
The aim of these operations is to strengthen the capacities of KFOR,
EULEX and the Kosovo police so that they could respond to any
scenario that brings security into question." [16]
The putative president of the Republic of Kosovo, Fatmir Sejdiu,
recently returned from NATO headquarters and a meeting of the bloc's
North Atlantic Council - usually reserved for the ambassadors of
full member states - where he had updated those envoys on the
"general evolution in Kosovo, Kosovos objective [of making] further
progress and, especially, its ambition to become a member of NATO."
Sedjiu had also "thanked the North Atlantic Council ambassadors for
all the support that NATO has [provided] and is providing to Kosovo
and has expressed the commitment of our institutions to an active
partnership and close cooperation with NATO."
At a press conference in Pristina after his return, he spoke of his
offer to make members of the Kosovo Security Force, a NATO-trained
national army in embryo, available for "NATO peacekeeping operations."
[17]
....
In 1991 the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and from the
following year onward the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, presented
an obstacle to NATO's drive to the east - the former Soviet Union
and Asia - and to the south - the Middle East and Africa.
In the story of Aesop's a bundle of sticks tied together could not
be broken but, once separated, each could be easily snapped in two.
In completing the fragmentation of Yugoslavia NATO removed a crucial
impediment to its expansion into a global military force. In its
place it has acquired seven new members and candidates and as many
potential sites for training camps, air and naval bases, and transit
points for moving troops and weapons to new war zones on three
continents and in the Middle East.
1) Tanjug News Agency, February 17, 2010 2) Tanjug News Agency,
February 26, 2010 3) Harvard Crimson, February 16, 2010 4) Ibid 5)
Tanjug News Agency, March 11, 2010 6) Radio Serbia, February 5,
2010 7) NATO Public Affairs, February 16, 2010 8) Radio Serbia,
March 22, 2010 9) Blic, March 22, 2010 10) Tanjug News Agency,
February 11, 2010 11) BalkanInsight, March 23, 2010 12) North
Atlantic Treaty Organization, March 3, 2010 13) Makfax, March 16,
2010 14) North Atlantic Treaty Organization, February 22, 2010 15)
Xinhua News Agency, March 18, 2010 16) Tanjug News Agency, March
22, 2010 17) President of the Republic of Kosovo, March 22, 2010
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Copyright Rick Rozoff, Global Research, 2010
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