WW III? An Analysis of Yugoslavia

Why is NATO attacking Yugoslavia? Some ignorant people think it is because the US government and other Western democracies are interested in "human rights" and defending the Kosovan people. These ignoramuses could not be further from the truth. They obviously have not learnt the lessons of history and ostrich like they wish to keep their heads buried in the ground. It is precisely this type of ignorance that led to the colonization of the Third World in the first place. However, most people realize that something is amiss. Intuitively they realize that the Kosovan crisis is not as simple as it appears at first sight. This article is written for these very people. It is imperative that all Third World countries, of which naturally Pakistan is a part, understand the true dynamics of the conflict and are not swayed by U.S. propaganda.

The US and British ruling class propaganda instruments CNN and BBC are lambasting the Serbs for crimes against humanity and genocide. It is strange that a government that has committed and backed some of the largest genocides in recent history, a government, furthermore, that pursues a policy that is leading to mass starvation and deprivation in Iraq should come out so strongly and vocally for the defense of the Kosovan people. The United States government funded and then continued the genocidal war in Vietnam, it killed 4 million people in North and South Korea, backed Suharto who killed a million people in Indonesia, it was responsible for perpetuating the Apartheid regime, it waged chemical and biological warfare against the Cuban, Soviet, and Chinese people, it invaded Panama, Dominican Republic, Cuba, El Salvador, Guatemala, it armed and equipped the contras in Nicaragua, it equipped Renamo in Mozambique, it is the only state to use nuclear weapons against another people, it is responsible for the death of 1.3 million people in Iraq due to the economic sanctions out of which 600,000 are innocent children, and is responsible for innumerable other crimes in the 20th century. But no other power has even briefly considered "rendering the US war machine incapable of inflicting further damage," or "restricting their ability to make war." The media has always been silent on these occasions.

It should come as no surprise if I say that the United States government is the biggest perpetuator of wars in the twentieth century even more than Nazi Germany. In terms of the number of lives US policy has been directly responsible for, they have surely beaten Mr. Hitler’s record. Some would say that I am exaggerating. But these people obviously have not been doing their homework or reading their history. For it is clear that the US government has supported military dictatorships with arms and money for the last 50 years and these military dictatorships have been responsible for bleeding the masses to drain them of their revolutionary energy. The biggest threat to democracy and peace in the world today are not Saddam Hussain or Slobodon Milosovich. No, it is the entire US ruling class that is hell bent on gaining advantage over its other imperialist rivals.

A Little History of Yugoslavia


The Balkans is strategically a very important region in Europe. Not only is it the only land route to the Middle East, it is also critically close to the oil and mineral rich region of the Caucuses. It is not by coincidence that the First World War was started in the Kingdom of Serbia. Neither is it a coincidence that Hitler deemed the Balkans so important that he delayed his invasion of Russia (operation Barborossa) by a crucial 6 weeks in order to take over the Balkans (operation Retribution). Some say this delay meant that German troops had to fight in the winter, and this winter fighting cost them the war. Regardless of the validity of this argument, it is clear that Hitler considered capturing the Balkans before an attack on Russia so important that he was willing to risk a winter war. Surely Hitler knew that Napoleons forces suffered defeat partially because of the fierce Russian winter. The strategic importance of the Balkans can be gauged from the fact that Hitler was willing to take this risk despite a glaring historic precedent.

The Serbian, Croatian, Bosnian, Montenegrin, Macedonian, and Slovenian people resisted against the Nazi attack and through a popular war under the command of Martial Tito and with the help of the larger Soviet offensive were able to defeat the Nazis and create an independent and sovereign state that was dedicated to the ideals of socialism. During the cold war the US government manipulated the Yugoslav Federation away from the socialist block. However, with the end of the cold war the US government had no further use for this one time ally against the Soviet Union simply because the Soviet Union did not exist anymore. Thus, began the era of the dismemberment of the Yugoslav Federation. Subsequently, the US government has pursued a policy of breaking up the Yugoslav Federation into small swallow-able pieces by encouraging and funding ethnic wars and then "intervening to stop them" but essentially taking them over.

Why is the US so interested in Yugoslavia?


Everyone must have heard of the war on Yugoslavia but most people can not make out the motive behind such a war. The reasons are quite clear. I can point to 5 strategic reasons for the current mission in Yugoslavia. All these reasons are compiled from the very speeches of US members of state.

1) DESTROY SOCIALISM IN EUROPE: The US is interested in destroying every last vestige of Socialist states in Europe. This has been the strategy of the US for the last 50 years. Yugoslavia, although a Socialist state, unfortunately played a role in this very mission during the cold war. However, today it is the last remaining socialist state in Europe, and therefore, a potential threat to the stability of capitalism in Europe. The US recognizes that a socialist Europe means the demise of capitalism in the world. It is willing to use deceit and force to manipulate the circumstances in such a way that Europe remains reactionary and capitalist.


2) PREVENT A COMMUNIST RUSSIA: The US government has proved much further ahead in its thinking than the rest of the world in understanding the situation in Russia. The fact is that capitalism has failed in Russia and US government is expecting a major backlash against the ruling class of Russia and a return to some form of Socialism in Russia. We like ignorant fools think that socialism is a lost cause but all the time the US is making plans for the next war against a potential socialist state. They term this "precautions against a hostile Russia." However, they are not saying this overtly because they do not want to push Russia in that direction by public statements. That is, they do not want to make Russian citizens aware and uneasy that the US is already considering them a potential enemy. A statement of that kind will push the Russian masses further away from western ideologies and towards communism. Thus, the US is playing a delicate game, a game every imperialist power must know how to play, maintaining friendly relations on top while preparing for confrontation on the ground. The expansion of NATO clearly proves what I am saying. The inclusion of Checkoslavakia, Hungary and Poland is nothing but the inclusion of buffer states against a "potentially hostile" (translate communist) "Russia."


3) MILITARY MONOPOLY: The US is interested in destroying any power in the world that can be a potential military threat to the US. It wants to create a military monopoly because like a true imperialist state it understands that military might is the key to world power. It was for these very reasons that the US attacked Iraq. That is, to make sure that Iraq was no longer a strong military power capable of challenging US ruling class interests in the Middle East. The mission of these airstrikes is correctly stated by Bill Clinton; "to limit the capacity of the Serbs to make war." The result is that the balance of power shifts in favour of the US government. On the other hand, there seem to be no plans underway to limit the ability of the US to make war. They remain the country that spends the most on its military and possesses the largest military force world history has every seen.


4) MIDDLE EAST: Yugoslavia provides a land route to the Middle East. Since the Middle East is strategically the most important region in the world--just as Yugoslavia is strategically the most important region in Europe--having land access to this region is very important. Bill Clinton himself said that a pro-west Yugoslavia is the best defense against "perverted theories of Islam that are anti-western." What that basically means is that a pro-west Yugoslavia is the best defense against an anti-imperialist Islamic movement.


5) CENTRAL ASIA: Having a friendly face in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, is the best thing for the protection of investments that US oil tycoons have made in the Caucuses. Central Asia is rich in oil and natural resources and US corporations are ready for the picking. They have already made huge investments in the region. These investments have to be protected against a possible Socialist uprising in which case the workers would take over these industries. A stable and pro-west Yugoslavia is the best thing for protecting US investments in the Caucuses.


The Third World War


Most people think of a world war in terms of millions of people dying, carnage, and slaughter. However, they don't realize that both world wars started with very small seemingly isolated wars that spread as the imperialist powers got greedier and greedier. Consider the following similarities between World War II and the current situation.

1) Nazi Germany was the one great power and had managed to align several states towards its side. It had one of the largest military machines and one of the most advanced economies. Fascism was very popular in all of Europe and its propaganda machine was the best in the world. They won millions of people to their own side with lies and deceit.

The United States today is the only superpower and has managed to align Germany, Britain, and to some extent France and Japan towards its side. It has the most advanced economy in the world. Its ideology--free market capitalism--has become the most popular ideology in the world today. The world’s best media sources are monopolized by the US and through these media sources they have got millions to agree with them.

2) Nazi Germany was interested in small wars in the name of peace to "regain the land it had lost in the First World War." Thus, short wars were fought and Nazi Germany took over parts of Checkoslovakia, Poland, Hungary etc. The rest of the world just looked on and most said it was for the best.

The US is interested in regaining the territory it lost during the cold war to the Communists in the name of peace and human rights. It is willing to fight short wars to take over these small countries with or without military alliances and install puppet governments in these countries.

3) The biggest enemy of Nazi Germany was Communist Soviet Union. It was trying to build a Europe that was capable of defeating the Communists. It was the most anti-worker and anti Communist country in the world at that time.

The biggest enemy of the US is Communist China and a potential Communist Russia. It is trying to build a Europe that is capable of defeating any Socialist ideology. The US is today the most antiworker and anti Communist country in the world.

4) A global crisis of capitalism in the 1930's forced countries to become more aggressive to regain their trade advantage.

A global crises of capitalism exists today that is forcing countries to become more aggressive and competitive to maintain their trade advantage.

There are many other similarities but the point is that Nazism in Germany was an outgrowth of the imperialist system of Germany, and the wars being declared by the United States in several parts of the world are also a product of the imperialist system of the United States. The short wars that lead up to the mass carnage have already begun. We are sitting around astounded just like people did in the 1930's. We have to build up a movement against US aggression towards other people as quickly as possible if we want to avoid the carnage of the Second World War. If we keep placid as people did in the 1930's then the consequences will be devastating. The Balkans will be the powder keg of a third world war.

"But Wait a Second, What about the Kosovan People"


At this point I expect you to interject and say "alright I except all this about the imperialism and the US but what choice do we have? If we don't ask the US to intervene then the Kosovan people will be "ethnically cleansed."" Let me state quite clearly that this argument is an argument fabricated by the US to convince the world that there is no other choice to save millions of lives except to send NATO troops into Kosova. In fact, the US has fabricated the whole situation in Kosova and Germany for the purpose of convincing people that intervention is the only answer. I would love to take the whole lie apart piece by piece but the magnitude of the lies practiced on the people are so large that it would take an entire book. Fortunately such books are written (read "NATO in the Balkans voices of opposition." assorted authors).

The facts of the case are that Germany and the US funded and backed the so-called Kosovan Liberation Army (KLA). They recruited mercenaries (hired soldiers) to kill people in Kosova and to inflame people's passions. They were the ones that started the entire war and when the Yugoslav state reacted to restore law and order, as any government would do against a terrorist attack by an invading force against its own people, they were accused of "ethnic cleansing." Countless reports have been roaming around on the Internet as far as two years back about infiltration of the Kosovan border from Albania. I myself, being an Internet freak while I was in college, picked them up and read them quite regularly. The KLA at that time was one family stocking up ammunition and preparing for the go ahead from the US. This is an old imperialist strategy. In the sub-continent it was called "Divide and Rule." Divide the people up by supporting extremist factions and then rule over them when their revolutionary unity is broken up. That is how they conquered the sub-continent, that is how they conquered the Soviet Union, that is how they conquered Africa, that is how they conquered the Middle East and nearly every region I can think of.

BUT THE IRONY IS THAT PEOPLE STILL FALL FOR THIS STRATEGY OF DIVIDE AND RULE

What about Our Own Political Parties? What Is To Be Done?


The government of Pakistan also reveals its pro-imperialist characteristics when it gives the US a thumbs up for this action. The so-called "religious parties" are the most ignorant. They are very good at sloganeering but when confronted by an actual situation they take the US line immediately. The US manipulates the Muslim world so easily by saying "Muslims are getting killed." Pretty soon all the right wing parties start sending people to fight for US interests. It was so when India was first conquered, it is so today. Either these parties should declare themselves to be stools of the US (which is what they actually are) or they should prove their revolutionary and anti-imperialist nature and oppose the strikes on Yugoslavia. If the people in Pakistan think that this does not affect them in any significant way they are merely repeating the mistakes that led to our colonization in the first place.

In politics everything depends on the balance of power. If the scales are in the favour of the revolutionary forces, then we can win, if they are in favour of the imperialist forces, then we will lose. Therefore, every conflict that changes the balance of power in the world in any significant way should interest the oppressed people through out the world. The imperialist forces are constantly attempting to build up their power by conquering other people and installing pro-imperialist governments in their countries. Whenever such an act occurs it undermines the ability of people all over the world to resist imperialism. Therefore, people all over the world including genuinely anti-imperialist Pakistanis should be ready to resist the policy of aggression and war that the US government is directing towards the Yugoslav people. We must declare ourselves to be wholly in favour of the Yugoslav peoples war against imperialism, and build a strong anti-imperialist front in solidarity with all the revolutionary and anti-imperialist forces in the world. Most importantly we should educate ourselves about the imperialist system and how it operates and how we contribute to this system by our own ignorance. Otherwise history will condemn us to live as slaves for the rest of our lives.