Marshall Plan for Balkans?

Chris Burford cburford at gn.apc.org
Mon Apr 12 17:24:03 PDT 1999


At 18:33 12/04/99 -0400, you wrote:
>Chris Burford wrote:
>
>>Maybe the IMF will bank roll it?? Without strings????
>
>Chris, you continue to outdo yourself. Do you seriously believe there's any
>chance of this? If you do, I really wonder what planet you live on.
>
>Doug

Thanks!

I do not see how the western imperialist powers can afford *not* to do this. They have taken on a fight which they can't lose with an opponent who cannot lose, since Milosevic has staked his whole career on Kosovo.

They cannot send in ground troops. They fear to arm the KLA. They have got to stabilise the region with some positive sounding plans for governments that must be feeling pretty anxious. What is to stop them issuing special drawing rights?

But of course there will be strings attached. Like, to the shock of Jim Heartfield, the peoples of the Balkans will not be allowed to control their central banks.

Anyway NATO and its allies have already started talking about economic development. The Albanian government seems pretty shrewd and they would not have issued a press statement like the above if they thought they were just going to fall flat on their face.

Chris Burford



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