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. U.S. Troops Rescue Albanian Terrorists, Causing Anti-American Riot in
Macedonia
U.S. Diplomat Shot and Wounded, Others Sent Out of the Country
SKOPJE, June 26 - The American president who said during his election
campaign that he would pull the U.S. troops out of the Balkans has just
done a turn-about-face. George W. Bush pushed the U.S. deeper into the
Balkans quagmire when an unspecified number American G.I.'s were ordered
Monday to rescue some 320 secession-minded Albanian terrorists from
Aracinovo, a small town only six miles northeast of Skopje, Macedonia's
capital. The U.S. troops marshaled 15 buses, 3 trucks, 3 ambulances and 16
Humvees for an operation in which the Albanian rebels were whisked off to
safety of the NATO-occupied Kosovo (see the map at our web site).
The news of the American G.I.'s coming to the aid of Albanian terrorists
spawned a huge riot in Skopje, during which the Macedonian Parliament was
occupied by some of the over 5,000 angry citizens for several
hours. Protesters fired guns in the air and shouted anti-western slogans
during the night of June 25-26. The Jan. 26 New York Times carried a front
page photo of the Macedonian troops trying to prevent some citizens of the
Umin Dol village from attacking the 101st Airborne Division G.I.'s who were
rescuing the Aracinovo Albanian rebels. Outside the capital, an American
diplomat was slightly wounded, apparently accidentally, by the Macedonian
army soldiers.
It is especially ironic that the U.S. troops were ordered into action in
Macedonia less than a week after George W. Bush and his senior foreign
affairs officials declared that they did NOT want the U.S. troops involved
in any NATO operations that were to follow an eventual ceasefire between
the Macedonian government and the Albanian secessionist rebels. But saving
Albanian terrorists was evidently a justified mission. Why? Because birds
of a feather flock together. Albanian insurgents in Macedonia were doing
Washington's bidding just as they were three years ago in Kosovo (see
"Kosovo: Bosnia II, Serbia's Aztlan, Chechnya", Mar. 6, 1998).
No wonder a top NATO official in Macedonia (Daniel Speckhard) defensively
told the New York Times that the U.S. action was "a one-time offer (to save
the rebels) aimed at bolstering peace."
Really? If so, why did NATO, the Albanian terrorists' air wing and bus
company, let the terrorist leave Macedonia with their weapons, rather than
disarm them first?
Details, details. The NATO "lie and deny" spokespeople have never been very
strong on details or logic, as those who have followed the TiM reports
during the 1999 bombing of Serbia know very well.
So what does this tell us about "Dubya," the current American president,
and his foreign policy team?
(1) Dubya's "new way" theory: The best way of fighting international
terrorism is to save the terrorists so we can fight them another
day. Except for domestic terrorists, of course (McVeigh, Waco women and
children; Ruby Ridge "rebels".), who must be killed to set an example for
other Americans who may be unhappy with the New World Order's usurpation of
the U.S. government.
(2) Words are cheap. Dubya's actions speak louder than words. In
Macedonia, however, they both stink.
(3) One can still take Dubya at his word. Just give him long enough to
change his mind and the story enough times for his word to go a full circle.
(4) Any similarities with Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright are purely
accidental.
No wonder Bush's approval rating back home has now dropped to 50%, the
lowest level for a sitting president in five years. What the American
public seems to be saying is: Clinton was bad, but a Clinton look-alike is
worse.
Meanwhile, back to Macedonia, why would the U.S. government not-so-secretly
support the Albanian rebels? In a word, the answer is - OIL. Note how the
locations of the latest Albanian insurgency lie northeast of Skopje. In
other words, trouble spots are AWAY from the Albanian ethnically-dominant
areas. But they do lie along the route of the future oil corridor - the
"Green Interstate," as we put it (see the map). So much for the latest
Albanian terrorist activity having anything to do with "liberation" or
"secession" of this Macedonian minority from Macedonia.
We first pointed out in November 1995, right after the Dayton accords were
signed which ended the Bosnian war, that the "Green Interstate" represents
a confluence of NATO and Islamic interests. And we predicted that next
conflagration point after Bosnia would be Kosovo, followed by
Macedonia. We also explained why the former U.S. president, George Bush
Sr., announced in December 1992 that he would the U.S. troops to this
newly-formed country, and why his son is now following in his and Bill
Clinton's footsteps.
It is worthy of note that at the time these TiM articles were published,
Macedonia was being hailed as a model multicultural country by the New
World Order globalist elite. George Soros, for example, publicly praised
Macedonia and often met with its former president Kiro Gligorov.
In April of last year, we also elaborated in more detail on the U.S.
geopolitical interests in the Balkans. The TiM editor's article "Blood for
Oil, Drugs for Arms," (April 2000) was published as a front-page story in
the New Dawn magazine's July-August 2000 issue.
Finally, we also bring you in this issue Prof. Michel Chossudovsky's latest
analysis, which draws similar conclusions (see the next story). And we
also give you a fresh perspectives on Macedonia from the London-based
British Helsinki Human Rights Watch (BHHRW), and the Washington-based Cato
Institute.
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3. America's War in Macedonia (By Michel Chossudovsky)
PHOENIX, June 30 - The following is an article contributed to TiM by Prof.
Michel Chossudovsky of the University of Ottawa in Canada. We've omitted
the numerous footnotes which back up Prof. Chossudovsky's analysis:
"Washington's covert war in Macedonia purports to consolidate America's
sphere of influence in southeastern Europe. At stake is the strategic
Bulgaria-Macedonia-Albania transport, communications and oil pipeline
"corridor" which links the Black Sea to the Adriatic coast. Macedonia
stands at the strategic crossroads of the oil pipeline corridor.
To protect these pipeline routes, Washington's goal is to install a
"patchwork of protectorates" along strategic corridors in the Balkans. The
promise of "Greater Albania" used by Washington to foment Albanian
nationalism is part of the military-intelligence ploy. Amply documented,
the latter consists in financing and equipping the Kosovo Liberation Army
(KLA) and its National Liberation Army (NLA) proxy to wage the terrorist
assaults in Macedonia.
The development of America's sphere of influence in Southeastern Europe
--in complicity with Britain-- supports the interests of the oil giants
including BP-Amoco-ARCO, Chevron and Texaco. Securing control and
"protecting" the pipeline routes is paramount to the success of these
multi-billion dollar ventures:
AA successful international oil regime is a combination of economic,
political, and military arrangements to support oil production and
transportation to markets.
The Anglo-American consortium which controls the AMBO Trans-Balkan pipeline
project linking the Bulgarian port of Burgas to Vlore on the Albanian
Adriatic coastline largely excludes the participation of Europe's competing
oil giant Total-Fina-Elf. In other words, US strategic control over the
pipeline corridor is intent upon weakening the role of the European Union
and keeping competing European business interests at arms' length.
WHO IS BEHIND THE TRANS-BALKAN PIPELINE?
The US based AMBO pipeline consortium is directly linked to the seat of
political and military power in the United States and Vice President Dick
Cheney's firm Halliburton Energy.
The feasibility study for AMBO's Trans-Balkan Oil Pipeline, conducted by
the international engineering company of Brown & Root Ltd. [Halliburton's
British subsidiary] has determined that this pipeline.will become a part of
the region's critical East-West corridor infrastructure which includes
highway, railway, gas and fiber optic telecommunications lines.
And upon completion of the feasibility study by Halliburton, a senior
executive of Halliburton was appointed CEO of AMBO. Halliburton was also
granted a contract to service US troops in the Balkans and build
"Bondsteel" in Kosovo, which now constitutes "the largest American foreign
military base constructed since Vietnam".5 Coincidentally, White and Case
LLT, the New York law firm that President William J. Clinton joined when he
left the White House also has a stake in the AMBO pipeline deal.
MILITARISATION OF THE PIPELINE CORRIDORS
The AMBO Trans-Balkans pipeline project would link up with the pipeline
corridors between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea basin, which lies at
the hub of the World's largest unexplored oil reserves (see map of
http://www.bsrec.bg/taskforce/SYNERGY/oilprojects2.html). The
militarization of these various corridors is an integral part of
Washington's design.
The US policy of "protecting the pipeline routes" out of the Caspian Sea
basin (and across the Balkans) was spelled out by Clinton's Energy
Secretary Bill Richardson barely a few months prior to the 1999 bombing of
Yugoslavia:
"This is about America's energy security. It's also about preventing
strategic inroads by those who don't share our values. We're trying to move
these newly independent countries toward the west. We would like to see
them reliant on western commercial and political interests rather than
going another way. We've made a substantial political investment in the
Caspian, and it's very important to us that both the pipeline map and the
politics come out right."6
The Anglo-American oil giants, including BP-Amoco-Arco, Texaco and Chevron
--supported by US military might-- are competing with Europe's oil giant
Total-Fina-Elf (associated with Italy's ENI) which is a big player in
Kazakhstan's wealthy North East Caspian Kashagan oil fields. The stakes are
high: Kashagan is reported "so large as to even surpass the size of the
North Sea oil reserves."7 The competing EU based consortium, however, lacks
a significant stake and leverage in the main pipeline routes out of the
Caspian Sea basin and back (via the Black Sea and through the Balkans) to
Western Europe. The key pipeline corridor projects --including the AMBO
project and the Baku-Cehyan project through Turkey to the Mediterranean--
are largely in the hands of their Anglo-American rivals, which rely heavily
on US political and military presence in both the Caspian basin and the
Balkans.
Washington's design is to eventually distance all three AMBO countries,
namely Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania from German-EU influence through the
installation of full-fledged US protectorates. In other words, US
militarization and geopolitical control over the projected pipeline linking
Burgas in Bulgaria to the Adriatic port of Vlore in Albania is intent upon
undermining EU influence as well as weakening competing
Franco-Belgian-Italian oil interests.Under the SAA, Macedonia would (de facto) be integrated into
the European monetary system, with full access to the EU market.
The terrorist assaults coincided chronologically with the process of "EU
enlargement", gaining momentum barely a few weeks before the signing of the
historic "association agreement" with Macedonia. Amply documented, the US
has military advisers working with the terrorists. Was this a mere
coincidence?
Also, Robert Frowick, "a former US diplomat", was appointed to head the
OSCE mission in Macedonia in mid-March, again barely a few weeks before the
signing of the "association agreement." In close liaison with Washington
and the US embassy in Skopje, Frowick initiated a "dialogue" with NLA rebel
leader Ali Ahmeti. He was also instrumental in brokering an agreement
between Ahmeti and the leaders of the Albanian parties, which form part of
the government coalition.
This agreement negotiated by Frowick has largely contributed to
destabilizing political institutions, while at the same time jeopardizing
the process of EU enlargement. Moreover, the deteriorating security
situation in Macedonia has provided a pretext for increased US political,
"humanitarian" and military interference, while contributing to weakening
Skopje's economic and political ties to Germany and the EU. In this regard,
one of the "binding conditions" of the "association agreement" is that
Macedonia conform to "EU standards on democracy". Needless to say, without
a "functioning government" in Macedonia, the EU association process with
Brussels cannot proceed.
The puppet governments installed in Tirana, Skopje and Sofia, while largely
responding to US diktats, are currently being swayed in the direction of
the European Union. Washington's intent is ultimately to curb Germany's
"Lebensraum" into Southeastern Europe. While paying lip service to "EU
enlargement", the US has consistently favored "NATO enlargement" as a means
to pursuing its strategic interests in Eastern Europe and the Balkans,
while Germany and France have opposed it.
While the tone of international diplomacy remains mannerly and polite, US
foreign policy under the Bush administration has become distinctly
"anti-European". According to one observer:
"At the heart of the Bush team, Colin Powell is [considered] the friend of
the Europeans, while the other ministers and advisers are considered
arrogant, hard and indisposed to listen or to give the Europeans a place."
GERMANY AND AMERICA
Amply documented, the CIA is behind the KLA and the NLA rebels, who are
waging the terrorist assaults against the Macedonian security forces. While
the CIA's German counterpart the Bundes Nachrichten Dienst (BND)
collaborated with the CIA in overseeing and financing the KLA prior to the
1999 war, recent developments suggest that the BND is not involved in
Washington's military-intelligence ploy in Macedonia.
Barely a few weeks before the signing of the "association agreement" with
the European Union, German troops stationed in Macedonia in the Tetovo
region were (mid March 2001) "accidentally" targeted by the NLA. While the
Western media --echoing in chorus the official statements-- maintains that
German troops were "caught in the cross-fire", reports from Tetovo suggest
that the NLA shelling "was deliberate." In any event, the incident would
not have occurred had Germany's BND been working with the rebel army:
"Up to 600 German troops were forced to leave Tetovo overnight after
their barracks. were caught in crossfire. [They] were too lightly armed to
defend themselves against the Albanians. The Germans will replace the
departing troops with a Leopard tank squadron [belonging to the
Panzer-Artillerie-Batterie division stationed in Nordrein-Westphalen].
.[T]he new [German] firepower may be used to knock out Albanian positions
now established around Tetovo,."
In a bitter irony, two of the commanders responsible for the terrorist
Waist Deep in the Balkans and Sinking: Washington Confronts the Crisis in
Macedonia
Executive Summary
The eruption of fighting in Macedonia and in Serbia's Presevo Valley has
underscored the bankruptcy of Washington's Balkan policy. NATO cited as its
principal reasons for intervening in Kosovo in 1999 the need to stop ethnic
cleansing and to prevent a wider war. Yet, since NATO assumed control of
Kosovo, there has been a massive reverse ethnic cleansing as Albanian
nationalists have driven nearly 90 percent of the province's non-Albanian
people from their homes. And now the Kosovo Liberation Army and its
offshoots have expanded armed conflict into southern Serbia and Macedonia.
Even as the current round of fighting fades, there are ample signs of
trouble ahead. By wresting Kosovo from Belgrade's control, the United
States and its NATO allies gave Albanian nationalists a base of operations
from which they can foment insurgencies across the borders. Their ultimate
goal is to create an ethnically pure "Greater Albania" that includes not
only Kosovo and Albania but large portions of Serbia, Montenegro,
Macedonia, and Greece.
Rather than face that reality, proponents of current U.S. policy circulate
far-fetched myths about the nature of the struggle in the Balkans. Having
ignored the accurate warnings about the KLA issued by critics of the
original Kosovo mission, interventionists are repeating the same kind of
errors.
If the United States insists on staying in Kosovo, it faces three
unpalatable options. Option 1 is passive accommodation looking the other
way while the KLA pursues its agenda. That approach might minimize the
danger to American military personnel, but it would virtually guarantee a
wider Balkan war in the long run. Option 2 is assertive mediation. That
approach risks getting the United States into the middle of the dispute
between Albanian nationalists and the governments of Serbia and Macedonia.
Option 3 is aggressive confrontation. The United States would conclude that
the KLA is now the enemy and would try to crush the Albanian nationalist
cause. That strategy would likely lead to serious armed conflict and
American casualties.
Instead of trying to choose the least dreadful option, Washington should
extricate U.S. forces from Kosovo forthwith and transfer responsibility to
the European Union. America has no economic or strategic interests that
warrant the risks it is incurring. U.S. and European security interests are
separable. The United States should disengage and let the Europeans grapple
with making the hard decisions.
Ted Galen Carpenter is vice president for defense and foreign policy
studies at the Cato Institute. For the full text of Policy Analysis No.
397, check out http://www.cato.org/pubs/pas/pa-397es.html .
TRUTH IN MEDIA
Phoenix, Arizona
e-mail: publisher@truthinmedia.org
Visit the Truth in Media Web site http://www.truthinmedia.org/ for articles
on geopolitical affairs.
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