> West steps up threats against Yugoslavia
>
> By Tony Robson
> 23 September 2000
> [World Socialist Web Site,
> http://www.wsws.org]
>
>
> The NATO powers have tightened their military encirclement of the
> Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) in the run-up to the presidential
> and federal elections on Sunday.
>
> According to a Croatian news source, two US navy ships carrying 3,500
> troops are presently stationed at the ports of Split and Dubrovnik. An
> aircraft carrier, the George Washington, is to be deployed to the
> Adriatic from the Persian Gulf by September 30. The British Royal Navy
> aircraft carrier, HMS Invincible, is also stationed off the Montenegrin
> coast. In the words of the British Ministry of Defence, this is to "send
> the right message to Belgrade."
>
> The threat of renewed military action has been coupled with increased
> Western interference in the country's electoral process. Western powers
> are backing the candidacy of Vojislav Kostunica, from the Democratic
> Opposition of Serbia (DOS). This umbrella group of 18 parties has been
> described as "democratic" and "independent" solely because it is seeking
> to unseat President Slobodan Milosevic.
>
> The atmosphere is now extremely tense. At the end of August, Ivan
> Stambolic, a former President of Serbia who had been considering
> standing against Milosevic, was abducted and has not been seen since.
> Milosevic has clamped down on the media and earlier this month three
> members of the student-based opposition movement Otpor were jailed for
> 10 days, for spraying graffiti on walls in the capital.
>
> The Yugoslav government has also staged a war crimes trial of Western
> leaders responsible for organising last years bombing, accusing them of
> crimes against humanity and violating the country's territorial
> sovereignty. The trial, which is due to end immediately before Sunday's
> elections, is expected to hand down "sentences" of 15-20 years on US
> President Clinton, British Prime Minister Blair, former NATO Secretary
> General Xavier Solana and NATO's European commander General Wesley
> Clarke, among others.
>
> At an election rally last week, Milosevic denounced his opponents as
> "rabbits, rats and even hyenas" and accused them of being funded by the
> Western powers. Whilst Milosevic uses such charges to justify his
> clampdown on democratic rights in a bid to retain power, there is no
> doubt that the official opposition is on the payroll of the US and
> European Union.
>
> The New York Times of September 20 stated openly that, "The United
> States and its European allies have made it clear that they want Mr
> Milosevic ousted, and they have spent tens of millions of dollars trying
> to get it done...
>
> "The money from the West is going to most of the institutions that the
> government attacks for receiving it-sometimes in direct aid, and
> sometimes in suitcases of cash carried across the border between
> Yugoslavia and Hungary or Serbia and Montenegro. Most of those
> organisations and news media could not exist without foreign aid in this
> society, which is poor and repressive and whose market is distorted by
> foreign economic sanctions."
>
> The fact that these organisations, publications and media groups are so
> dependent upon US and EU patronage does not prevent the article's
> author, Steven Erlanger, from describing them as independent.
>
> Finance has been channelled to the opposition forces through the
> National Endowment for Democracy (NED). Though routinely referred to as
> a non-governmental organization, the US Congress funds it. The NED,
> which was founded in 1983, serves in practice as an adjunct to the
> CIA-procuring agents and groups in foreign countries to function as
> appendages of US foreign policy.
>
> According a report published by the NED two years ago, the Serbian
> opposition forces have been provided with monies going back as far as
> 1988. Many of the recipients included media outlets described in the
> West as the tribunes of "free speech", such as Radio-92.
>
> Information on recent contributions has not been so forthcoming. Figures
> on grant recipients in Serbia are a matter of public record. Officially,
> however, the NED has refused to release data without a formal request
> under the provisions of the Freedom of Information Act. The protracted
> nature of such proceedings means that such figures would not be
> available until after polling day.
>
> The reluctance to publish this data probably reflects criticisms made by
> opposition forces within FRY that the US has acted too clumsily in its
> support. The way in which opposition leaders have been summoned to
> meetings by US representatives, and the open declarations of future
> financial support in return for political obedience, have compromised
> them in the eyes of the general population.
>
> According to US Congressional hearings into the crisis in Kosovo, in the
> two years preceding the NATO intervention Serbian opposition forces
> received $16.5 million and the President of FRY's smaller republic,
> Montenegro, $20 million.
>
> The DOS has signed up to the platform of the G17, a think-tank of market
> economists again funded by NED. This economic blueprint calls for the
> adoption of the German mark as the main currency for all of FRY,
> following in the footsteps of the Montenegrin republic last year. Other
> proposals include reduction of public spending, ending subsidies on food
> and other forms of social protection.
>
> The continuation of US and European economic sanctions on the FRY is
> being cynically exploited to bludgeon the population into accepting
> these terms as the condition for ending their economic isolation. On
> September 18, EU Foreign Ministers in Brussels stated openly that if the
> voters ditched Milosevic at the polls economic sanctions would be lifted
> forthwith. Javier Solana, who is now the EU's foreign and security
> policy representative, commented, "A change from Milosevic to Kostunica
> would be welcome for all democrats and all citizens of Europe."
>
> The Western media has already made clear that a victory for Milosevic
> will be interpreted as proof of ballot rigging. This would be utilized
> to encourage civil unrest amongst the population and any ensuing
> confrontation could provide the pretext for NATO military intervention.
>
> As recently as August 17, the International Crisis Group (ICG), a
> Western policy think tank funded by the billionaire George Soros, stated
> in a press release entitled "Montenegro 'Right' to Boycott Milosevic's
> Phoney Elections": "Serious doubts remain about the capacity of the
> opposition to mount a credible campaign. United or not, opposition
> leaders are not held in great respect by the majority of Serbian people,
> nor is there any consensus behind one figure as an agent of change and
> an alternative to Milosevic. In the present circumstances, the
> participation of the opposition and of the Montenegrins in federal
> elections runs the risk of handing Milosevic a sham victory.
>
> "The international community should not lend further support to these
> flawed and illegal elections. The West's willingness to endorse phoney
> elections is an act of desperation, which rests on the hope that if
> Milosevic blatantly steals the elections the Serbian people will rise up
> against him."
>
> Now the ICG is calling for Serbs to vote in elections they previously
> denounced as phoney, stating that, "Despite all the reservations
> legitimately felt about the intensely nationalist opposition candidate,
> Vojislav Kostunica, ICG recommends international support for him, and
> full participation in the election by the Serbian people."
>
> The plans of the ruling coalition government of Montenegro, led by Milo
> Djukanovic, to secede from the FRY are also supported by the ICG. It has
> lobbied for the NATO Security Council to pass a resolution committing
> itself to military engagement on the side of the breakaway province in
> the event of hostilities with Belgrade. Joining them, the former leader
> of Britain's Liberal Democrats Paddy Ashdown wrote in the Independent
> newspaper: "On the military side, it means [the West] drawing up proper
> contingency plans for the various eventualities, including the most
> overtly dangerous one of attempted coup; considering in what
> circumstances we could impose a no-fly zone: immediate judicious
> employment of Western warship units in the Adriatic, etc.
>
> "On the economic front, it means continuing to expand Western economic
> assistance to Montenegro. And doing some very clear but rather small
> symbolic things to show our presence and active engagement in
> Montenegro-the establishment of an EU office in Podgorica, for
> instance."
>
> Already, thanks to Western financial support, the paramilitary police
> forces loyal to President Djukanovic outnumber Federal troops stationed
> in Montenegro by approximately 20,000 to 15,000. Evidence continues to
> grow that this force is receiving training by Western military experts.
> According to the July 30 Independent, Montenegro's Special Police, the
> Spezijani, has received training from Britain's SAS. The newspaper's
> correspondent interviewed an experienced officer named Velibor, who
> explained, "It was great. We learnt a lot. Some of the techniques they
> use are different to ours."
>
> These developments reveal that the Western powers are not interested in
> the democratic process or preventing a new outbreak of war in the
> Balkans. Their support for the oppositionist forces in Serbia and
> secession in Montenegro are merely a means towards an end-destabilizing
> the FRY in order to extend their economic, political and military
> domination of the Balkans.