Int’l Court opens door to dismember Serbia

The United Nations’ International Court of Justice ruled that a 2008 declaration of separation by the parliament of Serbia’s Kosovo province was legal under international law. Although the judges explained their July 22 decision on a narrow basis, it may still encourage recognition of the historically Serbian province’s secession.

There are 192 countries in the U.N. General Assembly. Up to July 30 only 69, including the United States and a majority of European Union members, had recognized Kosovo, whose population is about 80 percent of Albanian ethnic origin.

On July 30, Serbia lodged a resolution in the U.N. General Assembly demanding a new set of talks on Kosovo’s status. Despite the current Serbian government’s desire to join the EU, on this issue of territorial integrity Serbia is confronting the EU imperialist states.

Although the EU and U.S. imperialists support this dismemberment of Serbia, they oppose general support for self-determination. A broader court decision could give backing, for example, to the liberation struggles in British-ruled Ireland, in the Basque country now ruled by Spain and France, and for the independence of Puerto Rico from the U.S. These are legitimate struggles of oppressed nations for liberation from imperialist powers.

Kosovo is “independent” in name only. This means it is separate from Serbia, but it is not politically or economically self-sufficient. Kosovo’s government is an appendage of U.S. imperialism in the Balkans.

Kosovo is home to the massive Bondsteel U.S. military base, housing 10,000 troops. The province has been dependent on the U.S. and West European imperialist states since U.S.-NATO forces waged an aggressive war in 1999 to destroy what was left of Yugoslavia.

The Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was an independent country of 20 million people in 1989, before the collapse of the USSR and the East European socialist bloc. By December 1991, German imperialism, after annexing the German Democratic Republic, recognized the secession of Slovenia and Croatia, led by rightist parties, and supported secessionist groups in Bosnia. Since large Serb minorities lived in Croatia and Bosnia, civil war was inevitable.

U.S.-led NATO forces then intervened militarily in the Bosnian civil war against the Serb forces in 1995. In 1999, U.S.-led NATO forces supported the ultraright Kosovo Liberation Army (UCK in its initials in Albanian) against Yugoslavia, even though Washington had called the UCK “terrorist” a year earlier. The Pentagon carried out 79 days of bombing raids on Serbia, killing thousands of civilians and destroying much of the Serbian infrastructure and environment.

In the end, NATO aggression turned an independent Yugoslavia into a collection of ministates that are colonies of Western European and U.S. imperialism. The ultrarightist UCK transformed into the core of Kosovo’s government. This gangster regime began to persecute the large Serb minority along with the smaller minorities of Jews, Roma and other peoples of Kosovo, many of whom fled to the rest of Serbia.

Catalinotto is editor of the book “Hidden Agenda: U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia.”