First of all, if what I've be reading is correct, the battle in Yugoslavia, while driven by Western imperialism, was not about Western imperialism, but about how things are going to be divvied up in the Balkans. NATO tried to knock off one last piece, and almost found themselves in a very difficult situation. At the moment, they seem to have been able to pay the Russians to put a fix in, and not a very desirable one, but one which will enable them to declare victory and get part of the piece. The whole business was so stupid that I have concluded it could not be the work of Capital. Capital has no interest in a Balkan war; it can buy Serbia a hundred times over, buy control of the Caucasus if it wants, buy access to central Asia oil, not in spite of the Russians and the Muslims, but _from_ them.
NATO, however, is distinct from Capital. It's an old and probably obsolete institution. It's not sure that Capital loves it any more. Yet many careers, enterprises, social relationships, and billions of dollars are tied up in it. What to do? Get out and bark and bite -- show that there's teeth in the old dog yet. Unfortunately, the latest excursion proved to be a fiasco which Capital will have to spend many billions to repair -- the deposit in Russian Swiss bank accounts is only part payment.
What put this idea in my mind was a report I read quoted in a _Salon_ chat group, where I had gone to poison the minds of the many imperialism fans there. It seems that recently NATO had made threatening noises about Belarus. Belarus? It seemed a little forward to pursue the _Drang_nach_Osten_ right while you're trying to get the _Osten_ to put a fix in for you only a few hundred klicks away. However, it makes perfect sense if one thinks of it as ritual stupid truculence. Bark, bark! If the neighbor comes out of his house to complain, so much the better; you can defend the master from him, too. Bark, bark, bark. Very sad.
This is not to say that NATO isn't dangerous, but its days would seem to be numbered. However, this doesn't have much to do with Capital, which will just find other enforcers. As for victory, Capital was victorious a long time ago, when it more or less bought out the large socialist enterprises, leaving only us anarchists to fight them. It. But that's another story.
Gordon