GERMANY DEMANDS (ILLEGAL) KOSOVO INDEPENDENCE

Report by the German Journalists of www.german-foreign-policy.com
Of 13 February 2007, translated by Edward Spalton

INTRODUCTION BY RODNEY ATKINSON Ever since the end of the Second World War the German State has sought the break up of Yugoslavia, just as it has promoted the reversal of many other conditions of the 1918 and 1945 post war settlements. Throughout the 1980s the German secret services were active within Yugoslavia in particular through its war time fascist and genocidal allies, the Croats. It equally funded and armed its Albanian Muslim allies - the Kosovo Liberation Army which murdered and ethnically cleansed so many Serbs that the former now form the vast majority of the population of Kosovo which was historically a Serb province and under International law still is. Kosovo and Metohija is today still a haven for terrorist activity and massive cultural and ethnic cleansing of Christians (and gypsies and Jews) by Kosovo Albanians - under the eyes of UN and now EU forces. All this is the result of the most illegal war in modern history (see on this website: www.freenations.freeuk.com/news-2007-01-19.html)

Berlin's policy of forcing the split of the Serbian state of Kosovo from Serbia is causing fear of other secessionary movements throughout Europe. If Kosovo becomes an independent State after the successful violent campaign of the Albanian Muslim KLA other ethnic groups will claim a similar right to "self determination". Particularly affected would be Spain, France Greece and Britain. The Basques especially claim sovereignty both in Spain and parts of France.

So basic is the historical religious and ethnic foundation of Kosovo as a Serb province that its secession would be like Britain losing Kent (with Canterbury) to France. There is a far better case for the secession of Bavaria from Germany - but of course Germany only promotes regional and ethnic secession in other European countries, not at home!

BELGRADE/PRISTINA/TIRANA/BERLIN (own report) Serbia should relinquish its southern province of Kosovo and place itself under the patronage of its former enemies. That is the gist of the offer which the German presidency made to the Belgrade government last Monday. As a reward for the renunciation of Kosovo, negotiations would be opened with the EU for an association agreement. The territorial self-amputation, which Berlin expects in the name of the EU, would break the Serbian constitution and create a dangerous precedent of forced secession of territories by appeals to “self determination” from violent minorities.

Organisations connected with German foreign policy have pushed these sorts of theories for years, aiming at the dismemberment of neighbouring countries. The offer by the German presidency followed demonstrations by violent Kosovo separatists which claimed two lives last week end. The disorders were promoted by a terrorist organisation which demands an end to the need for Kosovo to achieve standards in human rights and already has a branch office in Germany. Its ringleaders were among the co-conspirators of the former German foreign minister Klaus Kinkel in the preparations for the Yugoslav/Kosovo war of 1999. They cooperated with the underground Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK) which was supported and sustained by Germany. Those ringleaders form the government in Pristina today. The ensuing violence is a consequence of the change of power enforced by Germany which gave suspected war criminals and crooks the decisive influence in Kosovo.

As announced following an EU foreign ministers’ conference which took place last Monday under German chairmanship, the former aggressors are offering Belgrade a resumption of talks on a so-called treaty of association. It is a condition that the Serbian government should fulfil all demands of the UN tribunal in the Hague and extradite former high ranking officers of its armed forces to the victors. Additionally Serbia should accede to the plan for Kosovo’s secession, drafted by the former Finnish president Martti Ahtisaari on behalf of the UN and break its own constitution by renouncing claim to its southern province of Kosovo. To avoid the appearance of a complete capitulation by Belgrade, the planned secession is called “partial independence” although the founding of Kosovo as a state is decked out with all the insignia and trappings of a sovereign state. The “association agreement”, which requires further discussions with Belgrade, will bind Serbia irrevocably to the EU and distance Belgrade from its former ally, Russia, which continues to refuse its agreement to Kosovo’s secession (1).

Occasion and Cause

The offer by the EU foreign ministers had already been made public in the run-up to the conference and provoked Kosovan terrorists who stirred up a storm of protest against the cosmetic restrictions on their anticipated “self determination”. They want to establish their new EU state without controls from Brussels and to keep open the possibility of further frontier encroachments against bordering states, including Greece. Coordinated demonstrations, which took place on the eve of the foreign ministers conference and claimed two lives, were designed to make an impression. The protests were planned by an organisation called “ Vetevendosje” (Self determination) which has campaigned for several years for the union of Kosovo with Albania and for the annexation of parts of Macedonia, Montenegro and Greece.

The Kosovo uprisings of March 2004 (in which 18 people were killed and numerous Orthodox churches and monasteries were destroyed) served as a model for the recent disturbances – with some success. According to critics, the planning of that episode was advised beforehand to German secret service and military authorities. The riots were not prevented by the occupying troops and this provided Berlin’s foreign policy with the occasion to press for early secession of the south Serbian province. (2)

Introduced Everywhere
Experts evaluate the Vetevendosje organisation as terrorist. It demands the immediate ending of the negotiations on secession and the unconditional founding of the state of Kosovo. A long term observer (3) reports that its main slogans are “Smite the Serbs” and “Freedom, no Standards”. “Standards” in this case mean, amongst other things demanded by the UN, the protection of minorities from murderous pogroms. Vetevendosje works within circles of the veterans of unification “Balli Kombetar”, an earlier terror organisation of Greater Albanian nationalism which collaborated with Nazi Germany in the early Forties. The leader of Vetevendosje, Albin Kurti, has good contacts in Germany which he uses to secure his influential position in the Kosovo secession movement. During the preparations for the war in Yugoslavia, as a representative of the underground Kosovo Liberation Army(UCK) , he was introduced everywhere “in the whole western world as a charismatic student leader” – so reports a government adviser of the time (4) . Among Kurti’s contacts is the former foreign minister, Klaus Kinkel.

Advances

Kurti’s German contacts could flourish in the orbit of the long term support which the German intelligence community offered to the Kosovo Liberation Army. As a result “advances in the Albanian area” had already begun by the end of the Eighties. According to the intelligence expert Erich Schmdt-Eenboom, the then German foreign minister Hans Dietrich Genscher initiated these contacts. (5) The aim was to use the break up of the Warsaw Pact states to establish a presence quickly on the borders of Yugoslavia. Alongside weapon supplies, Tirana received espionage equipment from 1991 – just at the time that the Albanian secret service started to build up the newly founded Kosovo Liberation Army. Some of the German supplies were later found in Kosovo. According to press reports, the German Secret Service (BND Bundesnachrichtendienst) went over to arming the Kosovo Liberation Army directly in 1996, just as it was starting its first large campaign with bomb attacks on five Serbian refugee camps. The secret service connections continue openly to this day. A year ago the Belgrade press reported that both the BND and German Inland Secret Service had begun training espionage and state protection organisations (6)

The Whole Spectrum

The close political connections with Berlin which are enjoyed by the ruling clans in Pristina are built on the secret service contacts established in the pre-war and wartime periods. Former KLA pupils of German foreign policy have provided two of the four previous “prime ministers” of Kosovo. Agim Ceku, who was KLA Chief of Staff responsible for ground operations within the framework of the NATO attack, has led the Kosovo government since last year. He stands accused of serious war crimes and, as a result of Western pressure, has been twice released from investigative custody without coming before a court. Ramush Haradinaj, Ceku’s predecessor but one in office, converted the KLA into the paramilitary “Kosovo Protection Corps” after the war. Two years ago the BND reported on Haradinaj using its intimate knowledge of Kosovo “ The clan structure in the Decani area around Ramush Haradinaj is concerned with the whole spectrum of criminal, political and military activities which considerably affect the security conditions in all Kosovo. The group has about 100 members and is active in drug and weapon smuggling and in illegal trade in goods subject to customs duties. Additionally it controls organs of local government.” (7)

Despised

The prospect of building a state on such a power basis at Berlin’s insistence provoked the former Kosovo Ombudsman, Marek Antoni Nowicki, to sharp criticism. Nowicki reported last year “Kosovo society is dominated by a fine-meshed network of great Albanian families, which rule the area as clans. In this part of the world, cooperation with the police and justice departments is never valued and is, in fact, despised” (8) He reported after a thorough-going analysis of the security and justice systems, as well as corruption, organised crime and discrimination against minorities that the human rights situation in the protectorate “remains continually below minimum international standards” (9). As the final procedures for the splitting off of Kosovo became evident, Nowicki was removed from his post. His successor has not been known to make any critical remarks.

Stolen Kosovo (Ukradene Kosovo)

EuroVision 2008 - Jelena Tomasevic, ORO

San Diego Rally Video

Online Videos by Veoh.com

Vidovdan National Kosovo Rally -- June 28

American Voice Radio to Feature "Kosovo is Serbia" Group

Vojin Joksimovich will host a radio program, May 16, on American Voice Radio (AVR), 3-5 pm. AVR is a satellite radio station that also broadcasts on the internet: theamericanvoice.com.

In addition to Dr. Joksimovich, a nuclear engineer and author of more than 50 articles and several books on the US foreign policy in the Balkans, the program will feature Fr. Bratso Krsic, priest of St. George Serbian Orthodox Church; Bill Dorich, author of numerous books on Balkan subjects, including the 1992 book, Kosovo; Miro Copic, San Diego businessman and entrepreneur; and Jennifer Milanovich, sales executive and organizer of the San Diego Kosovo is Serbia group.

Franklin's Choice -- History in the Making

May 8, 2008
by Nebojsa Malic

"Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

It's a well-known dictum, attributed to Benjamin Franklin. He was only the publisher of the book in which it appeared; what he actually wrote, some time earlier, was "Sell not virtue to purchase wealth, nor Liberty to purchase power." Either way, Franklin was talking about the core issue in the affairs of men: the constant struggle between freedom and "security," the latter being the chief promise of the state.

Franklin's descendants seem to have made their choice long ago; even as every politician pays lip service to liberty, and the current Emperor actually wages wars of conquest across the globe in the name of "freedom" (what a perversion of the very idea!), American politics these days is all about "security."

On the other hand, "Franklin's choice" is still available to the people of Serbia – a country whose history in the past two decades has been affected by the American Empire as much as that of Iraq or Afghanistan. For the past seven years, Serbia has been ruled by parties and personalities set in power by the U.S.-sponsored "democratic revolution" of October 2000. It was neither a revolution nor particularly democratic – indeed, one of the first things the "revolutionaries" did was burn the parliament and the ballots from the recent presidential election. Nor did the victorious "democratic reformers" pay any heed to such insignificant details as the law, the constitution, or parliamentary procedure, bulldozing over anything that found itself in the way of their ambition: to make Serbia into a "normal" country by joining the EU and NATO, and taking its rightful place at the Empire's feet.

Selling a Pipe Dream
For seven years, Empire's willing executioners have run Serbia, promising progress and prosperity. They delivered on none of those promises, instead bringing debt, plunder, and humiliation.

To fully chronicle the abuses heaped upon Serbia by the sycophants and bootlickers of those who sought the End of History and sneered at the "reality-based community" would take more time and space than is available here. This column has noted but a few things over the years, from the blatant and unrepentant trampling of any legal order, to the wholesale plunder of the country, ending with what in any "normal" state would be considered high treason: acquiescence in the illegal seizure of Serbia's territory that was the "declaration of independence" by rebel Albanians in the occupied province of Kosovo.

In exchange for giving up their land, identity, culture, faith, history, and property – such trifles! – the Serbs are being offered a golden future in the European Union. Set aside for now the question whether a modern-day USSR is really the paradise they make it out to be; there is one tiny problem standing in the way of this utopian dream. Namely, the Empire has explicitly ruled out Serbia's "integration." Even when the EU pretends to make deals with Serbia, they are dead on arrival at best.

Passing the Blame
Even the "reformers" are aware that their promises of prosperity have worn thin. They have long since stopped promising hope – except in the most abstract sense – and turned to fear. If Serbia votes for the "nationalists" both they and their Imperial masters despise and demonize, it will "return to the 1990s" of blockade, isolation, and even bombing (they imply, and sometimes flat-out say). How odd, then, that the majority of those "liberals" and "democrats" and "reformers" have roots in the old Communist regime…

Confronted with the devastating reality of their rule, the "reformers" try to shift the blame on Slobodan Milosevic. But Milosevic has been dead since 2005, and he was arrested and extradited in 2001. His supporters have been marginalized since the October 2000 coup. And seven years is ample time to at least start repairing the damage done during Milosevic's rule. How come that hasn't happened?

Well, they say again, Vojislav Kostunica has been prime minister since 2004, after the "true believers" were ousted in the polls (ah, that pesky democracy!). Everything was just peachy while Zoran Djindjic was in power, and even after he got killed and the self-proclaimed Jacobins declared martial law… Except that nothing was going well even in Djindjic's time, and the very same people – "expert economists" from G17 Plus – were in charge of Serbia's economy since October 2000 regardless of who was prime minister or president.

In worshipping the Empire, the "reformers" went as far as to design the symbols of government after those found in Washington. Yet so different is the America many Serbs once knew and loved that Vojislav Kostunica, who once translated the Federalist Papers, is now being labeled a "hardline nationalist," while corrupt neo-Bolshevik Ceda Jovanovic is praised as a "pro-Western reformer."

Patriots and Reformers
If Kostunica is to be blamed for something, it is that his presence and involvement lent credibility to DOS and the quisling apparatus that emerged from it. In the end, it was not law, or reforms, or the economy that shattered the false peace between Kostunica and President Tadic and his henchmen, but the latter's insouciant reaction to the secession of occupied Kosovo. On Feb. 17, all the cards were on the table, and all the masks came off.

Now the battle lines have been drawn. On one side stand the "Patriots" – Kostunica, the Radical Party, and the Socialists, all committed to preserving Serbia's sovereignty and rights. On the other are the "Reformers" –Tadic's Democrats and G17 Plus, leading a motley coalition of separatists, ethnic minorities, neo-Jacobins and "non-governmental" activists amply financed by involuntary "donations" of American taxpayers.

The "Reformers" constantly invoke the Radicals as a specter of Milosevic's return. Yes, it is true that at one point in time the Radicals were allied with Milosevic (after years of being his bitter enemies). The same is true of Vuk Draskovic. The difference? Draskovic has recently been reanimated from his political grave to join the Democrats, as they desperately seek any allies that might give them a fighting chance.

The Devil's Own Bargain
In just about every respect, Serbia is in rotten shape. Its economy has never recovered from the 1990s blockade and bombing, followed by the destructive "transition" overseen by the G17. Its airwaves and newsprint are dominated by foreign corporations, foundations, and even governments. Even the people's cultural identity is endangered, as the very language and alphabet – not to mention the religion or traditions – are targets of a propaganda onslaught by the "reformers."

The so-called democrats, liberals, and reformers who seek the continuation of their seven-year dominance argue thus: everything that's wrong is the fault of Milosevic, or the nationalists, or the traditionalists. Both the EU and the U.S. wish Serbia nothing but the best, and everything they've done – from the blockades to the bombing – has been for the Serbs' own good. Only the ungrateful, the primitive, and the stupid cannot see that. All the Serbs need to do is give up their identity, faith, honor, and dignity. Is that really so much?

Echoes of the Past
It is not the first time such a choice has been presented. Consider this:
"Being in the situation we are in, having no choice, we must admit that we have lost a great deal of our sovereignty due to the careless and fatal policies of the previous government, and that we must obey the decisions of foreign powers. The best we can do for Serbia is to look the truth in the eye. We cannot afford further defiance, which would lead the country and the people into oblivion. We must obey international law and join the family of nations that surround us, a family of which we are a natural part."

These are not the words of today's "democratic reformers" in Empire's service, much as they resemble them. It is rather an excerpt from a speech by fascist politician Dimitrije Ljotic, given in April 1941 (after Nazi Germany destroyed the old Kingdom of Yugoslavia), urging the Serbs to submit to the inevitability of Nazi domination and integrate into the European "family of nations."

Ljotic's message fell on deaf ears. The Serbs revolted, either through the Royalist resistance or favoring the Soviet-backed Communists. The Communists eventually won, bringing their own inevitabilities.

May 11
Before Iraq, before Afghanistan, the American Empire showed its true colors by intervening in the Balkans. From stoking the fires of separatism to blockades and bombing, those who claimed to uphold international law have been its foremost violators. It is hard to expect anything different from those who make a desert and call it peace.

It is anybody's guess whether the American people will ever wake up to the monstrosity that's been created at their expense. Perhaps not, until the realities of economics, physics, and entropy catch up with the Empire. But Serbia has a chance, maybe one last chance, to refuse to be a part of the nightmarish world of transnational tyranny masquerading as peace, democracy, and freedom. Its people have a choice between liberty – with all the hardships it entails – and an illusion of safety in the suffocating bosom of the Empire. They should weigh the choice well, for it will be with them forever.

Find this article at: http://www.antiwar.com/malic/?articleid=12804