by Nikolaos A. Stavrou
Operation Allied Force has been a resounding success for Kosovar
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."
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