Oppose Big Power Interference in Self-Determination of the Peoples

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Britain backs Kosovo “independence”:
Oppose Big Power Interference in Self-Determination of the Peoples

For Your Information:
EU Police and Military Intervention in Kosovo

On Sunday, February 17, 2008, it was announced to the world that Kosovo had now become an “independent” nation, all under the guidance of the EU and US. Whether this is correct or incorrect for Serbia is a question for the Serbian people both Serbs and Kosovars. But for the British people there must be an understanding that Britain is a participant in this interference in Serbia’s affairs, and, as with Iraq and Afghanistan, what is the “gift” of the imperialist powers cannot be considered liberation.

            Rather than a sovereign state, what has actually been created is a kind of protectorate, namely Kosovo, which is now having the EU govern its affairs, taking over from the UN who have been there since the criminal NATO bombing in 1999. 16,000 NATO troops are to stay stationed in Kosovo, and plans for thousands of EU officials to be sent to Kosovo are underway.

            Kosovo has also become a point contention between the big powers with Russia and most likely China against the move while the US, Britain and other EU powers are spearheading the so-called independence of Kosovo. This is causing contradictions not only between “East” and “West” but also between the western powers themselves, as countries such as Spain defy the recognition of Kosovo.

            What is behind Britain’s stand is being covered up by an insistence that Kosovo is a special case clearly different from other questions of independence. Foreign Secretary David Miliband stated that “….this is a unique case, and I think it's not one that can be equated to the Basque issue or some of the other issues that have been raised". It is clear from the double standards and the habitual negation of international law that there is an ulterior motive behind Britain’s involvement, consistent with Britain’s aggression and “export of democracy” around the world, both now and historically.

            What is behind the interference of the big powers in this region? The big powers have not abandoned their quest for domination in Eastern Europe. The Balkans is a strategic region, control of which is key for control over Europe. The US now have bases in several countries in the Balkans, These bases can be used to strike at parts of Europe making the US more powerful in that region. It is the interference of these foreign powers in Eastern Europe that has caused untold tragedy.  This foreign power interference in the region is creating tensions between Serbs and Kosovars and dividing the population on ethnicity grounds.

            The problems between the Serbs and Kosovars are for themselves to solve through their own struggle to unite and build the society that they desire. Occupation has never liberated anyone, and so the problems that the Kosovars have will continue under occupation and Kosovo will become an instrument of the big powers. Without self-determination stemming from the people themselves in their struggles for national affirmation and renewal, such moves will only lead to disintegration, enmity and being enslaved and violated by foreign interests.

            The “mainstream media” present the creation of Kosovo as an historic event, as an achievement for Kosovars, with photographs of elated Kosovars and a rhetoric that all is well and good now that Kosova has its “independence”. A big lie is promoted that left to themselves, the peoples would be at each other’s throats, and with this dogma, the criminal role of big power politics and imperialist war is covered over and truth turned on its head. This history as such is a distortion of what is the reality for the people of Serbia, which is now divided, and under the tutelage of foreign powers, while the Kosovan people will not achieve the affirmation of their identity and the ability to decide their own affairs that they desire in these circumstances.

            That the US imperialists should single out Kosovo to mouth support for its “independence” while they maraud throughout the world placing suffering peoples under the US jackboot is just a painful farce, and demonstrates to the whole world that there are ulterior motives here, not least the attempt to smash the unity of the people against them into smithereens. It boggles the mind that US imperialist chieftain George W Bush should even have a conception of what independence means. The big powers of the EU are, for their own interests, attempting to create a Europe where the rule of the monopolies holds sway. Russia and China who seek a multi-polar world point out that this move to separate Kosovo from Serbia is against international law, citing UN Security Council Resolution 1244, which, though couched in big-power terms, lays down a procedure for greater "self-government" by Kosovo that is very questionable whether it has been followed. These contradictions are being batted between the ruling elites, while the people of these contested nations such as Serbia, Iraq and Afghanistan are having to deal with occupation, divide and rule, and overall violation of sovereignty.

            The British working class and people must see these events for what they are, understand the context of this so-called “independence”, oppose the disinformation and distortion of the situation, and see through the agenda and methods of the big powers. For the working class and people in Britain, organising for an anti-war government that upholds the principle of non-interference and upholds the right to self-determination for the people of the Balkans, and the rest of the world, is of upmost importance as the big powers march the world’s people further down the path to world war.

The European Union approved on Saturday the deployment of a 1,800-member “policing and administration mission” to Kosovo. Out of the 1,500 police, some 700 SWAT experts "trained in crowd and riot" control will be dispatched to Kosovo. 

            The mission is to be carried out under the European security and defence policy (ESDP). It will provide support to the police and judicial authorities "in their progress towards sustainability and accountability". 

            The EU police mission is slated to take over several functions currently under the mandate of the UN Mission to Kosovo (UNMIK) including police, justice and border police. 

            Once it reaches full operational capability the mission will have around 1,900 police officers, judges, prosecutors and customs officials and approximately 1,100 local staff and will be based in headquarters in Pristina.

            The EU-LEX mission will be under the authority of a retired French general Yves de Kermabon. Moreover, Brussels has appointed an EU Special Representative (EUSR) for Kosovo to be headed by Dutch diplomat Pieter Feith. 

            From one day to the next, the EU takes over the functions of a UN "peace-keeping mission", in derogation of United Nations procedures. It would appear that the Secretary General of the UN has been consulted on the matter and has given the green light. No formal decision has been taken by the UN to hand over its authority to a military-civilian EU "peacekeeping" administration. 

            The communiqué states that EU-LEX will assist Kosovo in "further developing and strengthening an independent multiethnic justice system and multiethnic police and customs service ... free from political interference”. The "customs service" pertains to the enforcement of a militarised border between Kosovo and the rest of Serbia, with a view to preventing Serbia from exercising its sovereignty over the province of Kosovo.  

            In a legal text published Saturday, the EU said the mission, EU-LEX, will "assist the Kosovo institutions, judicial authorities and law enforcement agencies in their progress toward sustainability and accountability”.

            In addition to the EU-LEX mission, more than 1,000 British troops have been sent to Kosovo to join the 15,000 strong NATO garrison in occupied Kosovo. According to the Daily Telegraph: "The imminent departure of the 1st Bn Welsh Guards to Kosovo has been ordered in response to fears that the newly formed independent state could slide into "ethnic cleansing".

            The US will be sending 1000 "non-EU experts" which will also include a new influx of private security and military contractors.  

            The NATO garrison of more than 15,000 troops in Kosovo together with private mercenaries under contract to NATO and the UN, are on hand to enforce the installation of an independent Kosovar government. The main task of this military-police contingent will be to secure the borders of the newly "independent state". 

            The Russian Foreign Ministry said on Friday that only the UN Security Council can make a relevant decision to change the format of the international mission in Kosovo. "We are convinced that Security Council resolution 1244 is valid. And we draw the attention of our EU partners, who have said a great deal lately about their desire and decision to send an additional mission to the territory, that a change in the international makeup in Kosovo is possible only on the basis of a relevant decision by the Security Council," Mikhail Kamynin, a spokesman for the Russian ministry, said. (RIA Novosti, February 16)

(source: Michael Chossudovsky, Global Research, February 16, 2008)