When Napoleon ordered the abduction and murder of a political opponent in 1804, his foreign minister, Count Talleyrand, commented: “That was worse than a crime; it was a mistake.” Apparently, the wisdom of Talleyrand was not limited to the time. The public opinion in the U.S. and its “willing allies” may have successfully ignored the fact that the Iraq war was a crime – under Nuremberg Principle VI (a) – but it can hardly close its eyes to the mounting evidence that it was a colossal mistake.
Britain’s Financial Times floated the heretofore unspeakable idea in an editorial Monday, offering a scenario in which the Washington might save face and still extricate itself from the nightmare that is Babylon:
“The time has therefore come to consider whether a structured withdrawal of U.S. and remaining allied troops, in tandem with a workable handover of security to Iraqi forces and a legitimate and inclusive political process, can chart a path out of the current chaos.”
The advice may well be too little, too late, as the situation in Iraq deteriorates rapidly. Even so, there doesn’t seem to be any readiness in the U.S. to take it. On the same day, two American “national security consultants” published an opinion piece in the International Herald Tribune, claiming that the difference between a “success” in Bosnia and failure in Iraq was the insufficient number of troops for the latter. It is an utterly misplaced comparison; the occupation of Bosnia took place at the end of a brutal civil war, with the three sides hating each other more than they hated the foreigners. It does, however, provide an occasion to reflect on the alleged “success” of Imperial intervention in the Balkans, compared to the obvious failure of Iraq.
The Final Solution
Croatia seceded from Yugoslavia in 1991, with the vocal support of Germany, Austria, the Vatican, and somewhat less pronounced backing from the United States. Contrary to popular perception, the crumbling federal government did not try to crush the secession. It did, however, support the native Serb population that remained loyal to Yugoslavia, resented being erased from the Croatian Constitution, and remembered all too well a genocide perpetrated by the pro-Nazi Croat authorities in World War Two – whose “legacy” the new authorities eagerly embraced.
A UN plan for ending the bloody conflict established an armistice in early 1992, putting the Serb-inhabited territories under UN protection. Though this status quo supposedly benefited the Serbs, the EU plan for Yugoslavia’s dissolution ruled out any changes to the Communist-drawn borders, effectively recognizing Croatia’s claim to these territories.
As the negotiations dragged on to no avail, Croatia’s military was being armed and trained by the United States, as an asset to be used in the Bosnian War. After several probing attacks, such as the Medak incident (1993), Croatian forces assaulted Serb zones in May and August 1995, in full sight of impotent UN troops. It was the largest single instance of ethnic cleansing in the modern Balkans wars, and it went completely unpunished.
Croatian authorities have recently demolished monuments to Nazi leaders from its dark past, but the largest monument to their legacy still stands: the Serbs who lived along the old Military Frontier since the late 1600s are now gone.
Jihad Unleashed
In neighboring Bosnia, outside involvement created even greater calamities. Though it became obvious as early as 1991 that the ongoing survival of Bosnia as an entity (independent or otherwise) depended on the three main ethnic communities finding a modus vivendi, Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic repeatedly sabotaged various attempts at compromise. Supported by the United States, Izetbegovic chose to declare Bosnian independence unilaterally, sparking a conflict first with the Serbs, then the Croats. In the resulting mayhem, no one was innocent. But Izetbegovic’s backers blamed everything on the Serbs, using their alleged “genocide” as a pretext to involve NATO in a combat operation (for the first time since the Alliance’s inception) and impose a “peace” on Bosnia that has been anything but.
The root of all problems in Bosnia is the notion of ethnic politics, promoted by democracy, and the ensuing question of which community will hold power over others. This caused the war, not “ancient hatreds” or religious differences. Under Imperial occupation, ethnic politics have become an institution and the ethnic autonomy guaranteed by the peace agreement has steadily fallen prey to efforts at centralization.
The very worst consequence of the Bosnian War was the unleashing of Islamic jihad on Europe, as thousands of militant Muslims fought on the side of Izetbegovic’s forces and settled in post-war Bosnia. Izetbegovic himself authored in 1971 the Islamic Declaration (.pdf), a manifesto for Islamic revolutionaries worldwide, and has never renounced his beliefs. But the unreserved support he received from Washington enabled him to continue the pretense of being a secular democrat until the day he died.
Aggression and Pogroms
In 1998, the U.S. intervened again, this time on the side of Albanian militants seeking to separate the province of Kosovo from Serbia and carve out an ethnically pure “Greater Albania.” After a staged massacre and an ultimatum designed to be rejected, NATO began bombing Serbia on March 23, 1999.
The attack was clearly illegal, and the attackers knew it. But the bombing went on for 78 days, justified daily by the vilest lies from the NATO propaganda mill. In the end Belgrade backed down, signed an armistice, and allowed the NATO/KLA occupation of Kosovo. All of the accusations were proven false; there was no “genocide.” On the other hand, the KLA expelled hundreds of thousands of non-Albanians, looted and torched their homes, and demolished over 100 Serbian Orthodox churches, chapels and monasteries, often in the presence of NATO troops.
In the most recent pogrom, the biggest so far, 50,000 Albanians rampaged through the province for two days, destroying thirty churches and expelling 4,000 Serbs. The perpetrators were never caught, let alone punished.
Even after five years, the Empire persists in denying the reality of its occupation of Kosovo, while Albanian criminal clans rule the province and everyone, especially non-Albanians, suffers.
Surrender to Terrorism
The occupation of Kosovo soon had tragic consequences in Macedonia, as the KLA mounted another terrorist land-grab. When Macedonian authorities tried to fight, the U.S. and EU interfered, pressuring the government to capitulate to KLA demands. The same propaganda that so thoroughly mislabeled the Bosnian War and justified the aggression in Kosovo now spun terrorism as a fight for “greater rights,” which in practice actually meant special privileges.
As willing as Macedonian politicians were to take orders from the Empire to surrender to terrorism, their people are somewhat different. They have won a right to organize a referendum on the redistricting of the country – the last phase of the capitulation that would have given Albanians disproportionate political power. Naturally, the EU and Washington condemned the referendum, and continue to pressure Skopje to cancel it, or ignore its results.
Destruction of Justice
Last, but not least, the Empire has sought to justify its intervention, aggression and occupations by establishing a “war crimes tribunal” for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, with the mission to judge people suspected of war crimes.
Resembling the Inquisition or a Star Chamber in its methods and practices, obeying no law but its own, always serving at the pleasure of the Empire, the “International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia” has become a paragon of injustice and persecution in this modern world. Led by mad prosecutors and chaired by arrogant “judges,” petty tyrants who often trample law whenever convenient, it is a circus, not a court. Its chief purpose is to fabricate a version of recent history that would cast former president Slobodan Milosevic and the entire Serb political leadership as a vast conspiracy against peace and humanity – an insane argument if there ever was one.
Presented as a legitimate UN court, it is instead a mockery of justice, a factory of lies, a cancer on the established body of international law.
Empire Out!
Everyone who advocated intervention in the Balkans invoked humanitarian reasons and moral obligations. They wanted to stop “humanitarian catastrophe,” and “ethnic cleansing” and “genocide,” but actually promoted – even caused – them all. They proclaimed their devotion to justice as they were busily destroying every vestige of the rules of conduct painstakingly crafted to prevent the very sort of barbarism they habitually engaged in for the cause of “benevolent global hegemony.” Even the claims of fighting terrorism rang hollow as they actually helped terrorists. Its authors may claim success – indeed they must, in order to survive in Imperial politics – but reality belies their rhetoric.
Worse yet, the Balkans adventures helped create the American Empire as it exists today. It was a triumph of belligerent social engineers and power-hungry bureaucrats over the danger of peace posed by the abrupt ending of the Cold War.
Some would argue that the United States and its satellites – the self-proclaimed “international community” – have a responsibility to help undo the damage they have done in the southeastern corner of Europe. This is impossible. What has been destroyed by force cannot be repaired or rebuilt by force – and force is the only tool at governments’ disposal. Furthermore, it is highly unlikely the Empire will itself recover from the demons unleashed by its misguided and malicious meddling; it can hardly help anyone else.
Not just the best, but the only way the Empire can help the Balkans now is to depart from it, forever.
