On the fighting in Macedonia

26 March 2001

Dear editors,

With NATO's refusal to assist Macedonia in defending it against Kosovo-trained Albanian terrorists, it has become clear that the final move in a long and complex strategic plan is being carried out. To repeated Macedonian pleas for help, NATO's indifferent response, that the Albanian insurrection is an “internal matter” having nothing to do with them (or the KLA), belies the fact that today's rebels are holdovers from the disbanded KLA, which of course was given generous assistance by NATO during the bombardment of Serbia. There are reports coming out now that the Albanian rebels in Macedonia were actually trained by US and British forces at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, specifically for the present attack against Macedonia.

But what is the logic behind NATO's laissez-faire attitude to the current situation? And what could it possibly stand to gain by destabilizing a small Balkan country that had done so much to help it, by taking in refugees and providing logistical support, in the one-sided war against Serbia?

The answer is not long in coming, and predictably sordid. For years the West has frantically been seeking a way to maintain its standard of economic prosperity through the locating and controlling of new areas rich in oil and natural gas, and for the most part it has gazed hungrily at the vast areas of the former Soviet Union that possess huge amounts of such natural resources. In the aftermath of the war to “free” Kosovo, in November 1999, the OSCE met in Istanbul to discuss various matters of common interest, the most pressing being plans for developing the oil fields and gas reserves of Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan. In the two years since then, plans have proceeded for the construction of a major supply pipeline from the Caspian Sea across the southern Balkans, which would have to pass through Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania. Now, it is necessary for NATO, and the western business interests it protects, to have some degree of stability in these countries, so that a deal can be legally signed, and more importantly, not abrogated; yet at the same time NATO cannot have these countries become too strong, lest they actually prosper as a result of the deal. Thus NATO needs apparently legitimate, loyal, puppet governments in small and fractious Balkan states, states that have yet to be carved out on the map.

By whipping up ethnic tensions in the Balkans, and pitting neighbor against neighbor on lines of ethnicity and religion, NATO is carrying on the execrable tactics that the British Empire used so well in Africa, and that the young United States used against its indigenous population. Simply put, when your forces are not strong enough (or, in this case, do not have the courage) to fight openly to gain your desires, you can most easily achieve these means by pitting neighbor against neighbor, and coming in to sweep up the wreckage afterwards.

If the Albanians believe, as many of them evidently do, that an independent Kosovo and a “Greater Albania” will actually increase their standard of living and general freedoms, they are deluded. There always comes a price for dealing with the devil; and when NATO has succeeded and destroyed the Balkans completely, those who it aided towards “freedom” will be forced to sign away their economic future, by renouncing their rights to the oil and gas that passes through their own countries. The most galling aspect of all of this is that, after setting up the present conflict in Macedonia, and watching it run its murderous course, NATO and the US will inevitably grow “concerned,” and in the general interests of “humanity” step in to strong-arm both sides into a peace agreement that everyone can live with, but, most happily of all, NATO. Then NATO bases will stretch unhindered from the Adriatic to the Black Sea, and the American passion for continual and rapid economic growth will be appeased. For the short-term, that is, since oil and gas are not renewable resources, and the US will inevitably then have to move on to find other countries for its economic colonization. But for those living in the Balkans, the aftereffects will probably go on for much longer, and be less happy.

I urge the media (that part of it that is not already controlled by the Pentagon, at least) to do its part in exposing the fraudulence of NATO and American claims to “humanitarian” intervention in the Balkans.

To the people of the Balkans, I urge in as strong of terms as possible, to resolve your differences peacefully, and unite to combat this parasitic invader in your midst. No matter how good the promises sound, Western long-term interests do not include your prosperity. As vast, international corporations come to rule the world, the boundaries between sovereign states have value only on paper. Unless you do something to protect your interests, that is. The Balkans still have the potential for real strength and economic prosperity; this will not be won, however, by accepting the gilded promises of the United States and its lackeys. The time has come to end NATO's eastward expansion and expel this venomous snake in the grass from the Balkans altogether.

Sincerely,
CD
19 March 2001