The Balkans
Tensions deepen as NATO begins Macedonia mission
By Chris Marsden, August 25, 2001
NATO troops have begun arriving in the Macedonian capital Skopje in significant numbers, despite almost universal scepticism in the viability of their stated mission.
US-European antagonisms sharpen over Macedonia
By Richard Tyler and Chris Marsden, August 22, 2001
NATO chiefs will decide today whether to press ahead with “Operation Essential Harvest” in Macedonia. Their decision follows the visit by NATO Supreme Commander US General Joseph Ralston t...
German troops to join NATO force in Macedonia
By Lena Sokoll, July 13, 2001
On July 8, German Defence Minister Rudolf Scharping (SPD—Social Democratic Party) told the press that up to 500 German soldiers would participate in a planned NATO intervention in Macedonia. The...
Croatian government crisis over extraditions to UN tribunal
By Chris Marsden, July 11, 2001
Croatia was plunged into political turmoil following the decision of the Social Democratic Party-led government of Ivica Racan’s to cooperate with The Hague war crimes tribunal and extradite two...
Behind the Milosevic trial: the US, Europe and the Balkan catastrophe
By Chris Marsden and Barry Grey, July 4, 2001
Whatever one’s opinion of formerYugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic—the World Socialist Web Site is decidedly not among the defenders of this former Stalinist apparatchik turned Serb nat...
Macedonia: US troops intervene to save Albanian separatists
By Richard Tyler and Chris Marsden, June 28, 2001
US forces took unilateral action on Monday to evacuate hundreds of Albanian separatist guerrillas from outside the Macedonian capital Skopje. A force of 81 American soldiers and 16 armed Humvee milita...
Macedonia "on the brink of the abyss"
By Richard Tyler, May 12, 2001
Talks aimed at establishing a national unity government in Macedonia have stalled, with ethnic-Albanian representatives insisting on a complete ceasefire in the ongoing civil war before joining the pr...
Montenegro split down the middle on separation
By Tony Robson, April 28, 2001
Pro-independence forces in Montenegro won the April 22 parliamentary elections by a slender majority of two percent. The ruling coalition government, led by President Milo Djukanovic's Democratic Part...
Open clashes between NATO and Croat separatists in Bosnia-Hercegovina
By Chris Marsden, April 11, 2001
Demonstrations by more than 3,000 Bosnian Croats took place on Monday in Bosnia-Hercegovina in support of Croat autonomy and to protest raids by NATO's Stabilisation Force (S-For).
Milosevic's arrest dictated by the US
By Chris Marsden, April 3, 2001
The arrest of former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic during the early hours of Sunday morning reflects the extent to which the US can wield its power and influence over the entire Balkan regi...
Bosnia-Herzegovina faces dissolution
By Tony Robson, March 28, 2001
Just five years after its creation, the state of Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) faces the prospect of dissolution. The ultra-nationalists of the Croatian Democratic Union (HDZ) in Bosnia have declared a gov...
Western powers reject NATO intervention against Albanian insurgency in Macedonia
By Chris Marsden, March 22, 2001
The United States, the European Union and Russia are bereft of a response to the danger of yet another Balkan war being provoked by the fighting between ethnic Albanian separatists and the Macedonian ...
