Yesterday while reading AMNY I saw an article about Kosovo. As with the so-called “Cedar Revolution” and “Orange Revolution” there was the obligatory picture of a pretty girl sitting on someone’s shoulders and waving a flag. Given the parallels my skeptical nature kicked in. While knowing very little about the issue, I began to wonder what is really go on. My skepticism was only reinforced by the unseemly haste with which the US and it’s EU lapdogs recognized the newly “independent” Kosovo. Not that I have a high opinion of Putin et al, but this story seemed much richer than the euphoric news reporting of “suffering Kosovars free at last.” So I decided to follow the mythical advice of Deep Throat (and it is a myth) and follow the money.
Ever hear of Camp Bondsteel? Neither did I. But apparently it is a huge US base in Kosovo, built and run by our good friends at KBR. Besides its huge size in such a small country, I was shocked to learn that President Bush, who doesn’t tend to spend a lot of time overseas, actually visited this base in the summer of 2001! Considering how much vacation time he takes in the summer (and remember this was pre-9/11), this base must be damn important.
Given the players involved I smelled oil. And indeed the US is backing the development of an oil pipeline, and of course KBR is heavily involved in that project.
The fact that the US has a base in Kosovo that is obviously meant to protect an oil pipeline, in and off itself is not a reason to think that Kosovo independence is a bad thing. And having a base there should provide jobs and income for poor Kosovars, right? Perhaps this will be good for the Kosovars. Actually, the UN, US and NATO have effectively run Kosovo for nearly ten year, so that should give us some idea of the future prospects of this newly “independent” country. From today’s New York Times:
“Diplomatic recognition is more than just a popularity contest for Kosovo, a desperately poor, predominantly Muslim landlocked territory of two million people. It needs the help and support of international institutions if it expects to improve its dire economic condition. A United Nations protectorate since 1999, it is policed by 16,000 NATO troops and has an unemployment rate of around 60 percent and an average monthly wage of $250.”
Ten years of international rule and the people of Kosovo suffer from dire poverty. Not very promising. And what about the government of this newly “independent” state? In the article I mentioned at the top, it noted how the celebrating Kosovars were chanting “KLA, KLA”. The KLA is a militant nationalist group that fought against the Serbs. The current government of Kosovo is led by former(?) members of the KLA. A quick search unveils that the KLA is not a very savory organization, having been involved in massacres of Serbs as well as its current involvement criminal activities like sex trafficking - which is a nice way to say selling women as sex slaves. Of course, all that unemployment and dire poverty makes it easy to find women to traffic.
Hence the true story of Kosovo “independence” seems to be that the US, Britain, France and Germany are backing a puppet government of criminals so they can hold on to military bases in Kosovo to protect oil interests. Of course Russia’s opposition is probably more about it’s fear of competition in the supply of oil to Europe, rather than upholding international law. How uplifting is that? While Kosovo’s independence may help the Kosovars forget their misery for a day, it has solved nothing and in fact created more problems. You can read more details here and here. While I can’t vouch for the complete accuracy of these articles, my own fact digging seems to support their veracity. You can also see an interesting video discussion about it here.
The story of Kosovo has broader political lessons. As is the usual case, “nationalism” is being used as a cynical tool to promote financial interests of the lowest sort. It is for this reason that I oppose political nationalism of any sort. No state should be based on ethnic lines, whether it be Kosovo, or “Jewish” Israel or “Arab” Palestine.
Cultural and ethnic identity is a very powerful human force and it is unrealistic to ask “why can’t we all just get along?” On the other hand, morality as well as long-term stability demand that the functioning of the state be neutral: all citizens should receive the same benefits and accorded the same rights regardless of ethnic background. In addition, economic issues (in the broadest sense of that term) geographically transcend the accident of ethnic population distributions.
Past injustices often make it hard to achieve a good balance between addressing grievances and ensuring political rights and economic benefits for all residents of any given geographic region. Creating independent “mini-states” is not a viable solution. Look at the chaos in East Timor, also in the news, to see yet another example of repression, oil and ethnicity mixed together in an explosive cocktail. Whatever the grievances, people who believe in human rights and political freedom should not support nationalist “independence” movement. Federal models do seem to work for the most part if they are in the context of governments committed to equality and true democracy. Countries like Canada and Spain seem to have found solutions that allow for cultural autonomy without full political “independence.” These models need to be expanded and refined and applied in all places where there are ethnic disputes.
Tags: Feature, Kosovo, Nationalism, Oil, War Racket
