Syndicate: Fw: Just a moral obligation (fwd)

[Misko <mpandil@soros.org.mk>]

Forwarded by Misko <mpandil@soros.org.mk>
----------------------- Original Message -----------------------
 From:    "Ivo Skoric (by way of Ed Agro <edagro@bellatlantic.net>)" <ivo@REPORTERS.NET>
 To:      ZAMIR-CHAT-LIST@LISTSERV.ACSU.BUFFALO.EDU
 Date:    Thu, 23 Aug 2001 11:23:27 -0400
 Subject: Just a moral obligation (fwd)
----

http://www.ok.mk/news/   (Posted 8/9/2001),   www.vest.com.mk

MILCHO MANCHEVSKI: JUST A MORAL OBLIGATION

Macedonia is collateral damage of the US policy in Kosovo A report by the
Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (which monitors the
events in Macedonia), a statement by the State Department, and a UN officer
this week all pointed at the Albanian separatists fighting in this Balkan
country as perpetrators of ethnic cleansing directed at the Macedonian
(often incorrectly called Macedonian Slav) population. The good guys of
yesteryear became bad guys.

This comes as no surprise to those diehard Balkan-watchers who have been
following the evolving tragedy in Macedonia.

During the ten years of brutal fighting in what once was Yugoslavia,
Macedonia managed to stay unscathed. This she did without help from the
international community. After tense negotiations, the Yugoslav army left
peacefully, an admirable task credited mainly to the first Macedonian
president Kiro Gligorov. There was tension (Gligorov himself survived an
assassination attempt which left him with one eye and with shrapnel lodged
in his brain), but no fighting. The government and the people were
repeatedly applauded by the international community for their efforts in
creating and maintaining a multiethnic society. (The international
community didn't help, though. The embargo on Yugoslavia crippled
Macedonia's feeble economy; Greece waged its own embargo on the young
state.) Parties representing ethnic minorities sat in the parliament.
Albanian parties were coalition partners in all governments since
independence, and at present six of seventeen government ministers are
ethnic Albanians, the parliament vice-president is Albanian, as well as
several ambassadors. There are primary, secondary schools and colleges in
Albanian; an Albanian university is about to open. There are tv stations,
theaters, newspapers in the languages of the minorities. Why then the
recent ethnic violence?

The Albanian militants claim they are fighting for human rights. This is a
mantra which has proven to be a winning argument in the past. However, this
time the human rights issues are a front for armed redrawing of borders.
The occupation of territory, abduction and murder of civilians, the threats
to bomb the parliament building (in downtown Skopje, the capital), cutting
off water supplies to the third largest city and - finally - the ethnic
cleansing perpetrated on the majority Macedonians (who are a minority in
the area of the conflict) point to the obvious: does one fight for language
recognition with mortar fire and snipers? (Can someone kill cops in LA or
Miami demanding that Spanish be spoken in the Senate?)

The "ethnic cleansers" - NLA - are mainly old KLA soldiers who fought in
Kosovo alongside NATO. (Even their initials are the same in Albanian: UCK.)
Most of their arms and fighters come across the border from
NATO-administered Kosovo. The UN Security Council last week requested that
KFOR and UNMIK patrol the porous border more vigilantly.

American, EU and NATO diplomats try to broker a peace agreement which
centers on better guarantee for the Albanians' minority rights, as a
pre-requisite for disarmament. This misses the point: the radical Albanians
fight for territory.

They are doing precisely what many observers have been warning against for
years - escalating the violence until the average citizen gets affected and
radicalized.

Even though the diplomats insist they will not negotiate with NLA (whom
NATO's secretary general George Robertson called "thugs and murderers"),
the west is - de facto - legitimizing killing in the name of a language
dispute. What a paradox!

Meanwhile, the fragile and impoverished country which was praised for its
multiethnic society and government, the same country which was (and is) the
primary base for NATO's operation against Milosevic's Yugoslavia and
peace-keeping in Kosovo (much at its own peril), the country which took
350,000 refugees from Kosovo (an increase in population of whole 15%) is
being ripped apart under the armed onslaught of gunmen armed and trained by
NATO. Macedonia is collateral damage to NATO's involvement in the Balkans.
The US and its allies consider it too risky to try to disarm KLA (or NLA),
even though this was an explicit responsibility of their Kosovo mandate.
Last year's disarmament of the KLA was largely a symbolic affair. Body bags
are not sexy, so NATO chose to let the militants keep their western
weapons. (Three weeks ago the US evacuated several busloads of militants
from the surrounded village of Aracinovo - complete with their weapons. A
rumor that seventeen American advisors were among the surrounded extremists
triggered an angry reaction by the Macedonian crowds who tried to block the
busses, and later stormed the parliament building.)

NATO's Kosovo escapade did much more than arm and train the militants who
now execute a classical blowback. It escalated the conflict in the Balkans
to a higher level. The psychological effect of the entire world putting
itself on the side of the Great Cause (as seen by the Albanian extremists)
has given a boost to their armed secessionist struggle. Ethnic cleansing
and occupying territories is an advanced step in redrawing borders. The
last ten years in Yugoslavia taught us what this leads to.

The US has a chance to stop the bloodshed and further collapse of
democratic values in Europe. This can not be achieved by hypocritical
appeals to "both sides." NATO, EU and the US applied immense pressure on
democratic Macedonia not to defend itself. Now, the aggression and
insurrection got out of hand. As a result of the "peace process," Macedonia
is on its way to federalization and disintegration. Last month President
Bush issued an order blocking the accounts of the leaders of NLA and
barring them from entering the US; the European allies followed suit. This
is obviously not enough.

If the US wants to demonstrate its stand against redrawing borders in the
Balkans, if she wants to stick to her word (NATO promised to defend
Macedonia, as General Wesley Clark points out in his book), if the she
doesn't want to set an example where she discards her allies when tough
action (even on a minor scale) is demanded, then the US should choke the
arms supplies and send the warmongers where Milosevic went. The NLA must be
forced to abandon its armed aggression and insurrection BEFORE there is
more political talk. The US must do this even if it requires limited
military involvement, such as arresting the NLA leaders (and expanding
Bush's "black list") and seizing its arms depots. The US has a moral
obligation to stop them from turning Macedonia into another Afghanistan or
Cambodia, two sad examples of blowback and collateral damage from American
involvement . As we learned in Bosnia, leaving the ethnic-cleansers
unchecked causes much more trouble down the line.

Or, as that proverbial lawyer in a Hollywood joke said: "Good news. It's
only a MORAL obligation." Except this time it is a practical obligation as
well.


Milcho Manchevski wrote and directed the Academy award-nominated "Before
the Rain," which also won Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival,
Independent Spirit Award and 30 awards worldwide.

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