NATO in Macedonia
Imperialist troops occupy Balkans in name of peace
By John
Catalinotto
As August ended, NATO troops began their first military
operation in Macedonia, turning another former Yugoslav
republic into a protectorate of U.S. and West European
imperialism.
The operation has already aroused the anger of the 2 million
Macedonians who want their country to remain independent.
Few Macedonians believe that NATO is seriously disarming the
so-called National Liberation Army (NLA). This group is just
another name for the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA), the
right-wing gang that NATO used as a cat's-paw to justify its
bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999 and the occupation of Kosovo.
According to NATO spokespeople, NATO forces are supposed to
collect 3,300 weapons from the NLA and end their mission in 30
days. Since the KLA/NLA has easy access to 85,000 weapons, few
Macedonians outside of the pro-West President Boris Trajkovski
claim the NATO operation will end the NLA terrorist acts
against Macedonians.
Indeed, on Aug. 31, hundreds of Macedonians blocked the
doors of the parliament building in Skopje, the capital,
keeping parliament from meeting until special police units
dispersed them. The day before thousands had demonstrated in
the streets against "the capitulation of the regime," saying
"NATO lies" and "U.S. and NATO--our aggressors, not our
friends." (Junge Welt, Sept. 1)
The day before the gun collecting--called "Operation
Essential Harvest"--began, one of the British troops heading up
the NATO forces was killed, apparently by Macedonians angry at
the occupation.
The British were the first troops to land and have been
playing the leading role among the NATO forces--which are to
total 4,500 in this phase--at least on the front lines. Given
the Pentagon's complete reluctance to incur U.S. casualties,
U.S. forces are operating in logistical areas, running
remote-control spy planes and safer tasks.
While there is much talk in Washington about the supposed
reluctance of the Bush administration to get more deeply
involved in the Balkans, there are no moves to pull U.S. troops
out. On the contrary, U.S. Envoy to Macedonia James Pardew said
Sept. 3 that he believed the NATO mission would have to last
beyond 30 days.
Joining him in this opinion is British Defense Secretary
Geoff Hoon, who was also visiting his troops in Macedonia that
day. Hoon said it is "certainly possible" the mission would
have to be extended.
German Defense Minister Rudolph Scharping also visited
German troops in the field earlier in the week to show Berlin's
backing. With the exception of the handful of representatives
from the Party of Democratic Socialism, the German parliament
voted overwhelmingly to back German participation in the
occupation.
This enthusiasm for renewed militarism has infected the
Berlin politicians from the Social Democratic and Green parties
as well as the Christian Democrats. These parties are all
captive to the desire of the German imperialist ruling class
to, for the first time since 1945, get overall imperialist
approval for their military's participation in foreign
adventures. They want to be able to order their troops into
action to protect their banking and business interests around
the world--in the same way that the other European imperialists
and the U.S. do.
Earlier occupations of the Balkans by German imperialism
turned into worldwide catastrophes known as World Wars I and
II.
But other news that hit the media Sept. 1 showed a more
direct reason for intervention by the U.S., Britain and the
rest of NATO.
That day Agence France-Presse reported that Ted Ferguson of
the U.S.-led Balkan oil pipeline consortium AMBO said that
construction of a pipeline from Bulgaria's Black Sea port of
Burgas to Vlore on Albania's Adriatic coast should begin by the
end of the year.
This is a 550-mile pipeline due to cross Macedonia and carry
750,000 barrels of crude oil daily.
The decision to rely on a passage through Macedonia and
Albania indicates one possible reason why Washington has chosen
to continue its support of the KLA as its main agent in the
area.
This article is copyright under a Creative
Commons License.
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