[R-G] NATO and the New Step Toward "Greater Albania"

[Anthony Fenton]

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t ))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
A Socialist Project e-bulletin .... No. 81 .... February 23, 2008
___________________________________________________

Operation Independence Kosovo:
NATO and the New Step Toward "Greater Albania"

Sungur Savran

The celebrations by the Albanian people of Kosovo upon the  
declaration of an "independent and sovereign" state were aired on  
television extensively. Two flags were waved during these  
celebrations. One was the familiar U.S. flag. And the second one?  
This flag with a double-headed black eagle on a red background, which  
country might that belong to? Better not to be too rash and say that  
it is the flag of the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, for that  
would be misunderstanding the true nature of what has happened. In  
the newly "independent" state of Kosovo, the people celebrating on  
the streets were waving the flag of another country. This was the  
flag of Albania!

The declaration of the "independence" of Kosovo is, first and  
foremost, a vast step forward for one of the pet projects of the U.S.  
in the Balkans, the creation of a "Greater Albania." This fact is so  
tangible, so concrete that when Martti Ahtisaari, the Special Envoy  
of the United Nations (UN), in a report he submitted in spring 2007  
after two years of negotiations between Kosovo and Serbia had reached  
a deadlock, recommended the "independence" of Kosovo, he had to  
qualify this by a special formula, "supervised independence." And  
against what would the "independence" of Kosovo be "supervised"? Why,  
the first precondition that Ahtisaari had to propose was to rule out  
unification with Albania! The mere imposition of this qualification  
demonstrates, beyond a shadow of doubt, that the real aspiration of  
the Albanians of Kosovo (and of the U.S.) is the creation of a  
"Greater Albania" through unification with the present state of  
Albania. Hence, the "independence" of Kosovo is sham independence.

And who is supposed to "supervise" the "independence" of Kosovo? The  
answer to this question gives us the second dimension of Kosovo's  
"independence." It is a well-known fact that, after the seventy four- 
day air strikes inflicted on the former Yugoslavia by NATO, Kosovo  
was delivered to the civilian rule of UNMIK (the UN Kosovo Mission)  
and the military control of KFOR (the Kosovo Peace Force). According  
to the terms of the resolution adopted by the UN after the  
termination of the Kosovo War, Kosovo was to remain Serbian  
territory, but was also to be converted into a "UN protectorate."  
This was a legal formula that was permeated with contradiction, since  
the status of "protectorate" is an entirely colonial status and to  
declare a territory that is under the sovereignty of an independent  
state (the former Yugoslavia and today's successor state of Serbia) a  
colonial belonging defies logic.

The "independence" granted today to Kosovo removes this  
contradiction, making it thereby a straightforward colony, one under  
multilateral rule. The initiative regarding the declaration of  
"independence" does not belong to Hashim Thaci, the leader of the so- 
called Kosovo Liberation Army become prime minister in January this  
year, but Ahtisaari on behalf of the UN. It is a travesty to pretend  
that Thaci is a "hero." Imperialism has offered "independence" to the  
KLA on a golden platter. Today Kosovo is controlled by 17 thousand  
NATO troops. It is being delivered to the rule of the EU, which will  
be sending an additional force of 1800 to police the territory.  
"Independence" on the force of arms of others is sham independence!

The real historic significance of this sham independence resides in  
this, that the U.S. and the EU have, through the Kosovo War, forcibly  
wrested a part of Serbia away from the country! (It would not be  
futile to remind EU fanatics that, in contrast to the Iraq War of  
2003 for instance, all the big EU countries were comrades in arms  
with the USA, and even led, the Kosovo war.) The 1999 war was fought  
on the declared grounds of stopping the cruel treatment and ethnic  
cleansing the Albanians of Kosovo were suffering at the hands of  
Milosevic. But the final outcome nine years later demonstrates that  
the real aim was to carry to its conclusion the dismemberment of  
Yugoslavia. "Operation independence Kosovo" is but the belated  
consummation of the forcible destruction of Yugoslavia in the years  
1991 to 1999.

A clear understanding regarding the aims of this imperialistic policy  
is of paramount importance. To start with, the Balkans are the South- 
western tip of Eurasia, an immense region that has come up for grabs  
as a result of the collapse of the Soviet Union and the other  
degenerated workers' states in Europe between 1989 and 1992. It was  
imperative for imperialism to prevent the survival of a state  
(Federal Yugoslavia) that had the capacity of obstructing imperialist  
plans in the Balkans. The dismemberment of Yugoslavia was the most  
violent form that capitalist restoration took in this historical  
period. Secondly, for the smooth implementation of EU plans to annex  
central and Eastern Europe, it was necessary to carve Federal  
Yugoslavia into mini-states and subsequently to destroy the  
historically strong identity of the Balkans through the imposition of  
the concept of "Southeast Europe." The so-called "Southeast Europe  
Stability Pact" (of which Turkey is such an ardent protagonist) is a  
product of this operation. Third, the Albanians were promoted as a  
special ally of the USA. Albania has today become the stronghold of  
reaction and pro-imperialist policies, as well as the Balkan centre  
of trafficking in drugs and prostitution. The project of "Greater  
Albania" is a U.S. initiative, developed as a counterweight to the  
preponderance of the Southern Slavs in the Balkans. Today Albania and  
Kosovo seem to embody the two heads of the eagle on the Albanian  
flag. Tomorrow, the eagle may become triple-headed, with the  
Albanians of Macedonia joining the band wagon. The "independence" of  
Kosovo should be situated in this overall picture.

The Albanians of Kosovo seem to be overwhelmingly in favour of  
secession from Serbia. Would it not be appropriate under these  
circumstances, it might be asked, for internationalists to support  
this "independence" on the basis of the right of nations to self- 
determination? The specific evolution of Kosovo history and the  
existence of a project to establish a "Greater Albania" complicate  
matters. Before it came under Ottoman domination in the wake of the  
notorious Kosovo War of 1399, Kosovo used to be the historic centre  
of Serbia. It was only towards the end of the 19th century that  
Albanians became the majority in this territory as a result of the  
ethnic cleansing of the Serbs under Ottoman colonial policy and the  
support extended by the Empire to Islamised Albanians as against the  
Serbs. Add to this the fact that Albanians already wield a state that  
neighbours the Serbian state. Under these circumstances the national  
question in Kosovo overlaps with that of the quest of one state to  
expand its territory (and population) at the expense of another.  
Beyond the plain and simple principle of the right of nations to self- 
determination, we see here a struggle for power between two sovereign  
states. But all these arguments pale beside the fact that the status  
accorded to Kosovo today has nothing to do with "independence." A new  
colony is born. How long the status of protectorate will last is  
totally unforeseeable, given the policy of imperialism in the Balkans.

That Turkey should have recognised the "independence" of Kosovo  
immediately, on the same day as the U.S. and the larger states of the  
EU, and this despite its own Kurdish question and its fears regarding  
the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq, has certainly nothing to  
do with respect for the rights of oppressed nations. The ruling  
classes of Turkey have made it a principle to serve the policies of  
imperialism, and of U.S. imperialism in particular, in the region of  
Eurasia, as long as these do not come into direct conflict with its  
own interests as in the case of the Kurdish question. The Eurasia  
policy of Turkey, pursued since Özal established it in 1991, has  
taken the form of military support to all kinds of imperialist  
endeavours (Somali, Afghanistan, Lebanon etc.)

During the Kosovo War, Turkish bombers poured death over the Serbian  
people arm in arm with the air forces of imperialist powers, three  
military air strips were allocated to imperialist fighter jets (but  
were not ultimately used because the war ended earlier than  
predicted), and the supposedly nationalist prime minister Ecevit  
declared, in the early stages of the war, that Turkey was prepared  
for land combat. The recognition of the "independence" of Kosovo  
implies that Turkey continues to play the game of imperialism and is  
directly connected to the agreement of 5 November 2007 between Bush  
and Erdogan related to the bombing of Kurdish (PKK) targets in  
Northern Iraq. Given the oppression of the Serbs by the Turks and the  
role they played under the Ottoman Empire in the forcible  
Islamisation of Kosovo, this policy becomes all the more shameless.

Sungur Savran is editor of the newspaper Isci Mucadelesi (Workers'  
Struggle) in Istanbul, Turkey (www.iscimucadelesi.net).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~(((( T h e B u l l e t))))~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Bullet is produced by the Socialist Project. Readers are
encouraged to distribute widely. Comments, criticisms and
suggestions are welcome. Write to info at socialistproject.ca

If you wish to subscribe: www.socialistproject.ca/lists/?p=subscribe

The Bullet archive is available at www.socialistproject.ca/bullet

For more analysis of contemporary politics check out
'Relay: A Socialist Project Review' at www.socialistproject.ca/relay