More on the Albanians...MUST read!
KFOR: Repeating history
Foreign Affairs Editorial Opinion (Published)
Source: Washington TImes
Published: 8/11/99 Author: Nikolaos A. Stavrou
Posted on 08/13/1999 19:50:15 PDT by Antiwar Republican
Untitled Document Operation Allied Force has been a resounding success
for Kosovar<br
ab>diplomacy and sets the stage for a prolonged American quagmire at a
place were guerrilla warfare and anarchy were invented. With the
apparent
toleration of KFOR a "state within a state" is fast becoming a reality
in
Kosovo, while porous borders with Albania assure an uninterrupted flow
of
weapons. Secure under the NATO umbrella, some enterprising KLA
elements
have reverted to lucrative smuggling activities, while others are busy
setting up parallel administration in Western Macedonia -a prelude to
a
liberation movement there.
Leaving little to chance, KLA's Washington supporters hold fast to the
victim image to assure "understanding" of its murderous activities.
When
it comes to blond Balkan Muslims, Western journalists have shown a
great
deal of understanding. Rapes of Serbian nuns are reported as
"assaults,"
and daily murders, abductions and disappearances are packaged as
"understandable" acts of revenge.
Decades of sound investments in the American political process paid
off for
KLA. A careful examination of FEC list shows a steady flow of Albanian
PAC
and personal contributions to prominent political figures of both
parties.
Now, as the Sarajevo gathering affirmed, it is the turn of the
American
taxpayer to foot the bill for NATO's "humanitarian intervention" in
defense
of separatism.
Kosovar diplomacy had history as its guide; its American counterpart
had TV
images. The KLA meticulously followed a policy first tested in the
Balkan
wars (1912-13) and refined in two world wars. Albanian elites would
instinctively claim victimhood in their pursuit of powerful patrons to
settle scores with their neighbors. The United States follows in the
footsteps of a long list of Balkanizers who made military power
available to
the perennial Balkan underdog. The Ottoman Empire, Benito Mussolini's
Italy,
Nazi Germany, Josef Stalin's Soviet Union, and Mao Tse-tung's China
all paid
their dues to the project of "Greater Albania." An Albanian proverb
aptly
defines the Kosovar views on power: "The big, the powerful and the
strong
are servants of the smart, the short and the weak." Yet, their choice
of
allies did not always serve them well. Faithful service to the Sultan
cost
them Kosovo in 1912. In fact, it was an Albanian general, Essat bey
Toptani,
who surrendered the province to the Serbs. A Harvard-educated bishop
and
politician, Fan S. Noli, misread the importance of V.I. Lenin's Russia
when
he invited Comintern agents to help him replicate the Bolshevik
Revolution
in Albania. Two decades later, Albanians of all ideological
persuasions
joined Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in their Balkan adventures. For a
short
four years, matters looked promising and Albanian enthusiasm for
fascism was
unabashed. Hitler's U-Boats and Mussolini's air force were routinely
referred to by Albanian leaders as "our forces," and banner headlines
in the
press heralded their victories. For example, Tomori in April 1942
joyfully
announced "our navy destroyed an American armada in the Atlantic";
Bashkimi
i Kombit headlined the "Successes of our air force in Malta and the
Corinth
Canal" with the subheading "Greece cut in two." Sixty-two thousand
Albanians eagerly marched into Greece with Mussolini's blue shirts. In
their
enthusiasm, the commanders of the Albanian brigades, Drini and Dajti,
requested the "honor" of crossing the Greek borders first. Many
prominent
communists, among them Ramiz Alia, (secretary general of the Communist
Party) started their careers as fascists. Omer Nishani, first
president of
communist Albania, had fashioned himself as the theoretician of
fascism. But
when his fascist past surfaced at the Paris Peace Conference, even
V.M.
Molotov blushed.
Albanian elites and tribal leaders saw the same opportunities in
fascism and
Nazism that their descendants now see in NATO. "If we organize and
discipline ourselves according to the dogma of Albanian fascism,"
wrote
Nishani, "we will achieve our hearts' desire of expanding Albania to
its
ethnic borders."
Under the fascist-Nazi umbrella, the Albanians gained control of
Kosovo,
efficiently cleansed it of 300,000 Serbs and kept the Yugoslav
resistance
busy, thus relieving Nazi troops for duty in Normandy. History repeats
itself. Under a different patron, the Kosovars are now cleansing the
territory of non-Albanians. Why not? NATO gave the Yugoslav army only
days
to get out of Kosovo, but it is "negotiating" with the KLA about what
weapons to surrender and when. In the meantime, ancient Orthodox
Churches
are destroyed and innocent farmers massacred by NATO's local allies.
Madeleine Albright and Tony Blair may still harbor illusions about a
multi-ethnic Kosovo, but that is not what Albanians have in mind.
Their goal
is "an ethically pure Albanian Kosovo," and they are pretty close to
achieving it.
Since KFOR's arrival, the Serb and Gypsy populations have been reduced
by 75
percent and 90 percent respectively. The irony is that the Serbs who
are now
being expelled are those who thought they had no reason to leave their
ancestral homes. They had nothing to fear, they thought, because they
had
committed no crimes against their Albanian neighbors. Above all they
opted
to trust NATO, only to be brushed off with the excuse, "We cannot be
everywhere, all the time."
Nikolaos A. Stavrou is a professor of international affairs at Howard
University.
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1 Posted on 08/13/1999 19:50:15 PDT by Antiwar Republican
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