AUG. 21, 2012 VOLUME 6, NUMBER 16 PAGES 377-400 WWW.GLOBALRESEARCHER.COM The Troubled Balkans CAN THE VOLATILE REGION FIND PEACE?

wenty years after Yugoslavia’s bloody breakup, the patchwork of nations known as the Western Balkans

faces rampant organized crime and corruption, chronically high unemployment and simmering ethnic

tension. The region lags far behind its Eastern European neighbors — economically and democratically T — and poses a potential trouble spot for the rest of Europe. Still, the picture isn’t all bleak. Croatia is about to join the European Union, and several other nations have membership applications pending. By contrast,

Bosnia and Kosovo, where savage sectarian fighting occurred in the 1990s — including mass killings of civilians —

are struggling to establish themselves as

functional, independent states. Meanwhile,

Serbia, after years of steady progress, re -

cently elected an ultra -nationalist presi -

dent, triggering renewed concerns over its

future role in the region.

Two young women in Potocari, Bosnia, mourn over one of 613 coffins containing newly identified remains of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre in Bosnia. In Europe’s only genocide since World War II, Serbs slaughtered up to 8,000 Bosniak Muslim men and boys who had sought refuge at a U.N.-protected enclave. The coffins were interred during a mass burial on July 10, 2011, the 16th anniversary of the genocide.

PUBLISHED BY CQ PRESS, AN IMPRINT OF SAGE PUBLICATIONS, INC. WWW.CQPRESS.COM THE TROUBLED BALKANS

THE ISSUES Western Balkans at a 381 Glance • Is another Balkan war Serbia has the largest popula - Aug. 21, 2012 379 likely? tion; Montenegro the smallest. Volume 6, Number 16 • Will membership in the War Wounds Still Raw in MANAGING EDITOR: Kathy Koch European Union (EU) solve [email protected] the Balkans’ problems? 383 Bosnia • Should NATO keep “We have stopped the war CONTRIBUTING EDITORS: Thomas J. Billitteri but not the conflict.” [email protected]; Thomas J. Colin troops in the Balkans? [email protected] BACKGROUND Corruption and Democracy CONTRIBUTING WRITERS: Brian Beary, 384 Rankings Roland Flamini, Sarah Glazer, Reed Karaim, Historic Hegemony Slovenia is the most democratic Rob ert Kiener, Jina Moore, Jennifer Weeks and the least corrupt. 388 The region became balkan- DESIGN /P RODUCTION EDITOR: Olu B. Davis ized under Turkish and ASSISTANT EDITOR: Darrell Dela Rosa Austrian rule. 387 Chronology Key events since 1389. FACT CHECKER: Michelle Harris 389 Yugoslavia’s Rise Ethnic Tensions Threaten The country stagnated 388 Kosovo’s Unity after Tito. Will the “youngest country in the world” backslide? Breakup and Recovery 391 Wars of independence Most Balkan Nations An Imprint of SAGE Publications, Inc. roiled the region in the 390 Not in EU, NATO VICE PRESIDENT AND EDITORIAL DIRECTOR, 1990s. Slovenia was first to join HIGHER EDUCATION GROUP: European Union. Michele Sordi CURRENT SITUATION At Issue DIRECTOR, ONLINE PUBLISHING: 393 Should all EU countries Todd Baldwin Euro Crisis recognize Kosovo’s indepen - 392 The crisis has slowed dence? Copyright © 2012 CQ Press, an Imprint of SAGE Balkan recovery. Publications, Inc. SAGE reserves all copyright Voices from Abroad and other rights herein, unless pre vi ous ly spec- 400 Headlines and editorials from i fied in writing. No part of this publication may Healing Old Wounds 394 around the world. be reproduced electronically or otherwise, Serbia cooperated with the without prior written permission. Un au tho rized Yugoslav war crimes tribunal. re pro duc tion or trans mis sion of SAGE copy right- FOR FURTHER RESEARCH ed material is a violation of federal law car ry ing civil fines of up to $100,000. OUTLOOK For More Information 397 Organizations to contact. CQ Press is a registered trademark of Con - 395 Stable Borders? gressional Quarterly Inc. EU membership could 398 Bibliography CQ Global Researcher is printed on acid-free paper. help unify the Balkans. Selected sources used. Pub lished twice monthly, except: (Jan. wk. 5) (May wk. 5) (July wk. 5) (Oct. wk. 5). Published by 399 The Next Step SAGE Publications, Inc., 2455 Teller Rd., Thousand SIDEBARS AND GRAPHICS Additional articles. Oaks, CA 91320. Annual full-service subscriptions start at $575. For pricing, call 1-800-834-9020. To Citing CQ Global Researcher purchase a CQ Researcher report in print or elec - Turbulent Balkans Seek 399 Sample bibliography formats. 380 EU Membership tronic format (PDF), visit www.cqpress.com or call Outside powers repeatedly 866-427-7737. Single reports start at $15. Bulk pur - conquered the region. chase discounts and electronic-rights licensing are also available. Periodicals postage paid at Thou - sand Oaks, California, and at additional mailing offices. POST MAST ER: Send ad dress chang es to CQ Re search er , 2300 N St., N.W., Suite 800, Wash - ing ton, DC 20037. Cover: Getty Images/Sean Gallup

378 CQ Global Researcher The Troubled Balkans BY BRIAN BEARY

ing” — minorities fled their THE ISSUES homes for safer locales . 2 As a result, the Balkan countries alkanize (verb): To today are more ethnically divide (a region or homogenous and segregated B territory) into small, than before the wars. Bosnia often hostile units. is perhaps the most extreme Few, if any, regions of the case: Its “Bosniaks” — or world have the dubious honor Muslims — are concentrated of inspiring a word, let alone in certain areas, while the Serbs a word with such negative and Croats, who make up connotations. about a third and a seventh But the troubled history of the population, respective - of the Balkans, a mountain - ly, live in other areas. ous region in southeastern The region’s geography ex - Europe, cried out for its own plains why it has remained word. How else to describe “politically fragmented and the countless conflicts over economically marginalized,”

the centuries that have frag - c says Davor Kunc, a Croatian i c k

mented religious and ethnic u expert on European Union r a

groups in the region. B (EU) and international affairs

s i v

Indeed, as Britain’s wartime l who is working at the World E / leader Winston Churchill s Bank on sustainable develop - e g once quipped, “The Balkans a ment issues. “Southeast Europe m I

produce more history than y is easy to get into, so it has t t they can consume.” 1 e been conquered by many G / P

The Western Balkans — F powers,” he explains. But A a region with 26 million in - More than 11,500 empty red chairs, representing the victims — mountains and non-navigable habitants encompassing Al - mostly civilians — of the infamous siege of Sarajevo, fill the city’s rivers make it difficult to move bania and the seven coun - main avenue during a 20th anniversary memorial on April 6, around within the region, he tries that emerged from the 2012. Beginning in 1992, thousands of Serbian troops, many of says, making it difficult for ashes of Yugoslavia — has them snipers, encircled and blockaded the city for 44 months, the various ethnic communi - shooting at anything that moved. The siege highlighted the been perennially plagued by impotence of U.N. peacekeepers stationed in the city at the time ties to integrate. conflict, largely stemming and led to a more decisive international intervention in Kosovo in 1999. In addition, the region from its polyglot mix of re - lacks natural resources, ex - ligious and ethnic populations. Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). cept for Kosovo, which has significant Today, after numerous wars in the Nevertheless, under pressure from the mineral and coal deposits. Unem - 1990s, the region is more fragmented two bodies, the countries have made ployment has been a chronic prob - and ethnically segregated than ever, significant strides in building their lem, with levels as high as 50 percent even as the patchwork of small new democracies and closing the painful in places. Organized crime, however, nations tries to forge democracies and chapter of their recent past. has flourished, especially since the stable governments out of the chaos. Ethnic and religious tensions have end of the Yugoslav wars of the The site of the continent’s only genocide been perhaps the biggest hurdle for 1990s, developing a lucrative trade in since World War II — in the Bosnian the former Yugoslav republics. Kosovo drugs, sex trafficking and counterfeit city of Srbrenica — the region con - is populated predominantly with Sunni goods. tinues to suffer from simmering post - Muslim Albanians. The other six coun - “We half-jokingly, half-seriously, say war ethnic tensions. Rampant orga - tries are made up mostly of Slavic pop - that the best regional cooperation is nized crime, political corruption and ulations who speak similar languages between criminalized groups,” says Ivan a dismal economy are also hamper - and are Orthodox Christians and Roman Vejvoda, a Serbian who is vice president ing the region’s efforts to join the Catholics. During mass expulsions in for programs at the German Marshall European Union (EU) and the North the 1990s — dubbed “ethnic cleans - Fund of the United States. Among the

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 379 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

Turbulent Balkans Seek EU Membership The Western Balkans, made up of Albania and the seven countries that comprised Yugoslavia until 1991, is a region in southeastern Europe that for centuries was conquered by competing outside powers. In the 1990s bloody wars of independence broke out in the ethnically and religiously diverse area, punctuated in Bosnia by Europe’s only genocide since World War II. Slovenia is the only country in the region to have joined the European Union (EU); the rest are at various stages in the membership application process. Western Balkan Nations and Their EU Membership Status

AUSTRIA HUNGARY ROMANIA Ljubljana

SLOVENIA Zagreb ITALY Danube CROATIA

Belgrade BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA SERBIA BULGARIA Sarajevo Pristina MONTENEGRO Adriatic KOSOVO Sea Podgorica Skopje MACEDONIA EU Membership Status Tirana Member Admission approved for 2013 ALBANIA Candidate Potential candidate GREECE

Map by Lewis Agrell

gangs , he says, “There is no ethnic prob - Alexandrovski, a corporate lawyer in He believes Yugoslavia’s violent, lem between Serbs, Albani ans, Croats, the Macedonian capital, Skopje. “You chaotic breakup, coupled with the Montenegrins, Slovenians, Bulgarians and see their leaders in restaurants, driving region’s chronic economic weak - Romanians. Their interest is profit.” their BMWs and Mercedes. You don’t nesses, enabled organized crime to “Being involved in organized crime avoid them on the street. They lend gain a foothold. Moreover, the various is socially acceptable here,” says Igor money to people.” Continued on p. 382

380 CQ Global Researcher Western Balkans at a Glance In the 1990s and 2000s, the former Yugoslavia broke into seven tiny countries — Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Kosovo, Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia. Each varies in its ethnic and religious composition. War-torn Kosovo and Bosnia-Herzegovinia are predominantly Muslim, while Orthodox Christians predominate in Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia. Croatia and Slovenia are mostly Catholic. Serbia is the most populous, while Montenegro has the smallest population. Slovenia is the most prosperous, with a per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) of nearly $29,000. Kosovo, despite having energy and minerals, is the poorest.

Socio-Economic Indictors for Former Yugoslav Republics

Area (1000s of Major GDP per Population square miles) ethnic Major capita Unemployment Country (millions) (relative size) groups religions (2011) rate Bosnia and 3.8 19,767 (W. Va.) 48% Bosniak, 40% Muslim, $8,133 27.6% Herzegovina 37.1% Serb, 31% Orthodox 14.3% Croat Christian, 15% Catholic Croatia 4.4 21,851 (W. Va.) 89.6% Croat, 87.8% Catholic, $18,192 13.2% 4.5% Serb others include Orthodox Christian, Muslim and Christian Kosovo 2.2 4,203 (Dela.) 92% Albanian, 90% Muslim, $5,823 n/a others are 6% Orthodox mostly Serb Christian Macedonia 2.1 9,928 (Vt.) 64.2% Macedonian, 64.7% Orthodox $10,367 31.2% 25.2% Albanian, Christian, 33.3% others include Turks, Muslim, Christians Roma and Serbs and others Montenegro 0.62 5,333 (Conn.) 43% Montenegrin, 74.2% Orthodox $10,642 23.7% 32% Serb, others Christian, 17.7% include Bosniaks Muslim, others and Albanians include Catholics and atheists Serbia 7.3 29,913 (S.C.) 82.9% Serb, others 85% Orthodox $10,642 23.7% include Hungarians, Christian, Roma, Yugoslavs, 5.5% Catholic, Bosniaks and others include Montenegrins Protestants and Muslims Slovenia 2.1 7,827 (N.J.) 83.1% Slovenian, 57.8% Catholic, $28,642 8.1% others include Serbs, others include Croats and Bosniaks Muslims, Orthodox Christians, others

Sources: United Nations Population Division, European Commission, International Monetary Fund, CIA World Factbook , Minority Rights Group

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 381 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

Continued from p. 380 forcing Macedonia to change its flag ple’s minds have changed a lot since trade embargoes imposed by the in - to a sun with eight rays. Greece also then. Today, we are all about integra - ternational community on the region has successfully stalled Macedonia’s bid tion into the EU and NATO, whereas in the 1990s — designed to halt the to join the EU and NATO, using its 20 years ago the big theme was in - fighting and to punish the perpetra - own membership in the two organi - dependence.” tors of gross human rights violations zations to block the admission. He stresses, however, that “this is a and atrocities — fostered the growth Understandably, Greece’s resistance different kind of integration than Yu - of a thriving black market. Mon - creates enormous resentment among goslavia. It has a democratic foundation tenegro, with its long Adriatic coast, Macedonians, who see their neighbors so we are not returning to our past.” has emerged as a major conduit for Croatia, Albania and Serbia overtaking As the international community won - smuggling. 3 them in the race to be admitted to the ders if the Balkans can move on from The Balkans’ newest country, Koso - EU. Macedonia also has its own inter- its painful past, here are some of the vo, declared its independence from ethnic tensions between the Macedon - key questions being asked: Serbia in 2008. About half of the world’s ian majority and the Albanian minori - countries, including the United States ty — which makes up about 25 percent Is another Balkan war likely? and 22 of the 27 EU member states, of the population — although so far a While achieving political goals through have recognized Kosovo’s indepen - large-scale conflict has been avoided. war is almost universally decried today, dence. The rest — led by China, Rus - All Western Balkan nations want to recent history showed war to be an ef - sia and Serbia, which still bitterly re - join the EU, although so far only Slove - fective political tool in the Balkans, ac - sents the secession — have not. 4 nia has been admitted (in 2004), and cording to David Kanin, a professor of Opponents of Kosovo’s independence Croatia is scheduled to join next year. European studies at The Johns Hopkins — which include five EU members Montenegro, Macedonia and Serbia School of Advanced International Stud - (Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia and are vying to be the next to join, while ies (SAIS), in Washington. Spain) — fear that recognizing a non - Bosnia and Kosovo are farthest away “As Yugoslavia fell apart in the 1990s, consensual secession could set a dan - from admission. The multi-stage, pro - virtually all of the solutions were mil - gerous precedent that might encour - longed process of joining the union itary ones,” he says. 5 age separatism within their own borders. is forcing the Balkans to enact major Ajla Delkic, executive director of While about 90 percent of Kosovo’s reforms, such as consolidating fledg - the U.S.-based Advisory Council for inhabitants are Albanian Muslims, a ling democracies and establishing in - Bosnia and Herzegovina, says it is very Serb enclave in the north refuses to dependent judiciaries. likely that Bosnian Muslims and Croats integrate into the new state. NATO But even before the Balkan nations will go to war if the Republika Srpska, maintains 5,500 troops in Kosovo to have been admitted to the EU, the union the autonomous Serb entity within maintain security and public order and NATO together are providing se - Bosnia, attempts to secede. “No coun - across the country. curity in Bosnia and Kosovo, after em - try will accept giving up its territory, Meanwhile, although attracting less barrassingly failing to do so in the 1990s. and the U.S. and EU support the ter - international attention than Kosovo, The EU has a peacekeeping mission in ritorial integrity of Bosnia as a single, Macedonia has had its own problems Bosnia and a mission to help establish sovereign state,” she says. gaining international acceptance. Since legal institutions in Kosovo. NATO has However, Obrad Kesic, a Serbian- it became independent in the early a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo. All American analyst of Balkan politics 1990s, neighboring Greece has mount - seven Balkan states are either members who works for TSM Global Consul - ed a relentless campaign to prevent of NATO or candidates for admission, tants in Washington, thinks the prob - the country from calling itself “Mace - with the notable exception of Serbia, ability of an all-out war is low, but that donia.” Greece’s largest and second- which still resents NATO’s bombing a lower-scale conflict is possible. He most populous region is called Mace - campaigns in Serbia during the Bosn - cites three flashpoints: the municipality donia, and Macedonia was a powerful ian and Kosovo wars. of Mitrovica in northern Kosovo, where kingdom in ancient Greece, the home Despite the ongoing ethnic tensions there have been skirmishes between of Alexander the Great. and economic challenges, the Balka - NATO troops and Serbs; the city of Athens imposed a trade embargo ns are on the right track, says Akan Mostar in Bosnia, where a tense stand - on Macedonia from 2002 to 2005 be - Ismaili, the Kosovar ambassador to the off persists between Croats and Bosni - cause it objected to the Macedonian United States. “People outside re - aks; and the majority-Albanian regions flag — a star with 16 points, a revered member us because of the wars. But of Macedonia, where tensions between icon of Greek culture — ultimately if you travel here, you see that peo - Continued on p. 384

382 CQ Global Researcher War Wounds Still Raw in Bosnia “We have stopped the war but not the conflict.”

istory can repeat itself if we are not aware of it,” ambush. “Bosniaks cling to the genocide claim because it is U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, told an the last clear-cut case where they can point to themselves as “H April conference in Washington assessing how far the war’s main victims,” he argues. Bosnia and Herzegovina has come toward reconciliation since Kesic says the dispute over what happened in Srebrenica is its war of independence ended 17 years ago. If you stop pay - a symptom of a larger problem: “Everybody is in denial about ing attention to history, she continued, “things do not neces - each others’ victimhood,” he says. sarily move forward. They can start to roll back.” 1 But Klara Bilgin, a Bulgarian political science professor current - Her warning was timely, given how the fractured nature of ly serving as a senior fellow at Rethink Institute, a Washington - Bosnian society increasingly hampers the country’s economic based research organization focused on dispute resolution, views development and integration into the European Union (EU) events differently. “Serbs have yet to have a moment of catharsis and NATO. Johnson’s interest in Bosnia was sparked by her where they accept guilt for their atrocities,” she says. “For this to travels there in the 1990s as a member of the delegation led happen, it will require political leadership.” by U.S. President Bill Clinton, when she encouraged women Edina Be ćirevi ć, co-founder of the Center for Justice and to take part in the peace negotiations. Reconciliation, a nongovernmental organization in Sarajevo, notes Political power in Bosnia is concentrated in two ethnically that even where there is consensus about an atrocity having based regional governments: the Bosniak-Croat Federation, made occurred, reactions to it vary greatly. Referring to mass rapes up of Bosnian Muslims and Catholic Croats, and Republika Srpska and murders of Bosniaks that took place in the town of Viseg - composed of Orthodox Christian Serbs. This arrangement — en - rad, she says “some of the locals are proud of the crimes com - shrined in a peace treaty brokered with U.S. help in Dayton, mitted in their name, while Serbs who helped save Bosnian Mus - Ohio, in November 1995 — created a weak central government. lims have to hide their actions.” 5 It also allows only self-identified Bosniaks, Serbs and Croats to Ajla Delkic, executive director of the Advisory Council for become president, a provision the European Court of Human Bosnia and Herzegovina, an advocacy group for Bosnian Amer - Rights says excludes Jews, Roma and other minorities. 2 icans, cannot forget what happened to her family in their home - Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, which endured a notorious 44-month town of Prijedor, where Serbs sent Croats, Bosniaks, Roma and siege (1992-1995) that killed more than 11,500 and wounded tens Serbs who disagreed with the Serbian leadership’s policies to of thousands, today is overwhelmingly populated by Bosniaks. concentration camps. “My father, uncles and aunt were in camps, Before the war, it had been more ethnically mixed. and my uncle was brutally murdered,” says Delkic, who came Although this ethnic segregation pattern is repeated across to the United States as a refugee in 1993. the country, some are fighting it. 3 “We challenge this notion “When Bosnia declared independence, we were immedi - that we should identify ourselves in ethnic terms,” says Darko ately attacked by Serb paramilitary forces. This war was an ag - Brkan, a native of Sarajevo who founded the nongovernmen - gression committed against people who believed in a united, tal organization Why Not, which advocates for a non-ethnic- multiethnic and democratic Bosnia — it was not a civil war,” based identity. However, Brkan, of mostly Croat ancestry but she says. who calls himself “a Bosnian citizen not a Croat,” concedes that not all his peers feel the same way. “We have extremes,” — Brian Beary he says. “There is one part of our youth that is very militant and another part that is very pacifist. When a society has been 1 “Bosnia: 20 years on,” Bosnian Advisory Council conference, April 26, 2012. ravaged by war, you get these extremes. We have stopped the 2 Douglas Davidson, “The Purpose of Constitutional Reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina,” German Marshall Fund of the United States, Aug. 10, 2010, war but not the conflict.” www.gmfus.org/wp-content/files_mf//galleries/ct_publication_attachments/ Bitter disagreements over what happened during the war Davidson_Bosnia_ConstitutionalReform_Final0809.pdf. Also see Lenaic Vaudin, continue to plague the nation, particularly over the murder by d’Imecourt, “Sarajevo receives accession road map,” Europolitics , June 28, 2012. Serbs of 7,000-8,000 Bosniak men and boys in the town of 3 Sylvia Poggioli, “Two Decades After Siege, Sarajevo Still A City Divided,” NPR, April 5, 2012, www.npr.org/2012/04/05/150009152/two-decades-after- Srebrenica in July 1995. The International Court of Justice in siege-sarajevo-still-a-city-divided. 2007 classified the killings as genocide, but many Serbs strong - 4 Ivan Vejvoda, “Fifteen Years After Srebrenica, Serbia Comes to Terms With ly refute that assertion. 4 its Past,” German Marshall Fund of the United States, July 16, 2010, http:// blog.gmfus.org/2010/07/fifteen-years-after-srebrenica-serbia-comes-to-terms- Obrad Kesic, a Serbian-American analyst of Balkan politics with-its-past/. and senior partner with TSM Global Consultants in Washing - 5 Becirevic was speaking at an event entitled “Bosnia: 20 years on,” orga - ton, D.C., says the incident did not amount to genocide be - nized by the Bosnian Advisory Council and hosted by the U.S. Congress cause the victims were mostly Bosniak soldiers fleeing a Serb at Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C., April 26, 2012.

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 383 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

international relations at American Uni - Corruption and Democracy Rankings versity in Washington, whose research Twenty years after Yugoslavia began to break into seven independent nations, focuses on preventive diplomacy in the Balkans. Pagovski says the region is be - the Western Balkans still struggle to institute democracy and combat corruption. coming more radicalized due to the eco - Slovenia — the region’s only member of the European Union — is the most nomic crisis and the slow progress to - democratic and the least corrupt. The others are working toward EU membership. ward integration into the EU and NATO. Corruption and Democracy Rankings of But Croatian EU expert Kunc cites the peaceful resolution of a territorial dis - Former Yugoslav Republics pute between Croatia and Slovenia as a Transparency International Freedom House sign that the region will not resort to vi - corruption ranking (among democracy ranking olence. “Slovenia was blocking Croatia’s 183 countries, with 1 being the (1 to 7, with 1 being the EU membership application because it Country least corrupt) most democratic) wanted a sliver of Croatian territorial waters that could give it access to the Bosnia and 91 4.36 open sea,” he explains. But despite hav - Herzegovina ing strong legal arguments in their favor, Croatia 66 3.61 the Croats chose not to fight the issue Kosovo 112 5.18 out through the courts in order to keep Macedonia 69 3.89 their EU bid on track. Instead, Croatia Montenegro 66 3.82 accepted an ad hoc arbitration process Serbia 86 3.64 with Slovenia that could eventually force Croatia to cede territory. Slovenia 35 1.89 Kunc rejects the oft-voiced mantra Sources: “Corruption Perceptions Index 2011,” Transparency International, 2011, cpi.transparency. about the perennially fighting Balkans, org/cpi2011/results/; “Nations in Transit 2012,” Freedom House, 2012, www.freedomhouse.org/ saying “conflict tends to happen only sites/default/Þles/2012 NIT Tables.pdf when there is a major shift in the world political order,” as happened be - Continued from p. 382 Srpska where notorious war crimes fore the 1878 Berlin Congress and dur - the Macedonian and Albanian commu - were committed in the 1990s, may see ing World War I, World War II and at nities are on the rise. a shift in political leadership. Popu - the end of the Cold War in the 1990s. “If our young people had more eco - lated overwhelmingly by Serbs who Kosovo’s Ambassador Ismaili is nomic opportunities, they would have “cleansed” these formerly ethnically equally confident that the Balkans’ less time to cause such problems,” said mixed areas of their Bosniak and Croat worst days are over, in part because Macedonian Defense Minister Fatmir populations during the war, some non- of the international attention the re - Besimi. 6 Serbs plan to use Bosnia’s liberal rules gion is getting. “The situation today is “Another war is not likely, but a con - for attaining residency to register to very different from 1990, when Yu - flict is possible,” says Robert Hand, a pol - vote there in an effort to replace the goslavia was being largely ignored,” icy adviser specializing in the Balkans Serb-dominated local government. says Ismaili. “Today the EU and U.S. for the Helsinki Commission, a group In Macedonia, Hand says, a 2001 are very present and can prevent the of U.S. senators and representatives that agreement granting Albanians greater situation from deteriorating.” monitors the work of the Organization cultural and linguistic rights has been Pierre Mirel, a director in the Eu - for Security and Co-operation in Eu - criticized for causing the Macedonians ropean Commission’s department that rope (OSCE), an intergovernmental or - and Albanians to drift further apart. oversees EU expansion, voices a sim - ganization that promotes regional se - Meanwhile, Macedonia is increasingly ilar sentiment. He is surprised that the curity. “Kosovo would be leading the frustrated over Greece’s efforts to thwart specter of war would even be raised. list, although I am a little concerned Macedonia’s EU and NATO member - “Clearly, the answer is no,” he says. about Bosnia, too.” ship bids, and there has been back - “Kosovo’s independence in 2008 was The local elections in Bosnia sliding on media freedoms. a turning point,” he explains, “because scheduled for October will be tense, “I am seriously concerned about the for the first time Serbia did not re - he predicts, because Srebrenica and situation in Macedonia,” says Zhikica spond with violence, turning instead Prijedor, two towns in Republika Pagovski, a master’s degree student in to the courts.”

384 CQ Global Researcher He insists that despite the tensions in Macedonian Defense Minister Besimi Moreover, some issues cannot be Kosovo, the country must not be parti - stresses the EU’s economic benefits. solved with EU membership, says Croa - tioned, because “it could give ideas to “We can be more stable and secure tian Kunc. “The EU is good at insti - others to claim independence,” such as by joining, which will make it easier tutional reform but is not efficient at Bosnia’s Serbs or Macedonia’s Albanians. for us to attract foreign investors to tackling political questions,” he says. Jelko Kacin, a member of the Eu - grow our economy,” he says. 7 Similarly, says the Helsinki Com - ropean Parliament who was Slovenia’s Moreover, says Slovenian European mission’s Hand, there are limits to minister for information when Yu - parliament member Kacin, joining the what EU membership can achieve. “The goslavia broke up, says, “There is no EU creates a positive “domino effect” prospects of membership are so dis - chance of military conflict in the among other EU candidates. For ex - tant for some of these countries that Balkans.” However, he adds, there might ample, Montenegro’s EU accession talks, it does not encourage their politicians be social turmoil due to the econom - which were opened in June 2012, will to make reforms,” he says. For exam - ic crisis. He dismisses speculation that tackle tough, long-term problems such ple, “Bosnia is wondering if the EU Kosovo might be partitioned, noting as organized crime, minority rights and really wants them.” Many Bosniaks be - that the Serb minority in southern Koso - freedom of the media. Such problems lieve the EU secretly wants to block vo has integrated into the political es - are endemic throughout the region, so Bosnia’s membership because of its tablishment there — a fact that is often Montenegro’s Balkan neighbors can large Muslim population. overlooked because of the sharp focus learn from the Montenegrin EU ad - But Mirel calls that accusation “very on tensions in northern Kosovo. missions process, he adds. unfair. The same conditions apply to Macedonian lawyer Alexandrovski all countries who want to join. There Will EU membership solve the believes EU membership will help his is no intention to make the EU a Chris - Balkans’ problems? country make serious inroads into fight - tian club.” All seven Yugoslav successor states ing organized crime. “It will give our Meanwhile, Serbian-American Kesic are now either EU members or can - police and judiciary the tools they strongly rejects the view of the EU as didates, and opinion polls show that need to reform, although this will re - a kind of panacea. “The Balkans’ prob - the overwhelming majority of the peo - quire personnel changes too,” he says. lems do not get solved by the EU. ple of the Balkans favor membership. Kosovo’s ambassador Ismaili says “yes, They just get tied to the EU’s bigger Not surprisingly, their expectations of absolutely,” EU membership will solve problems, such as debt.” He claims what EU membership will mean are the Balkans’ problems. “When every Balkan leaders “tell the EU and U.S. extremely high. Balkan country is inside the EU, the what they want to hear, but they are “The prospect of both EU and NATO chapter of war will close.” not really committed to principles like integration has been the driving force Likewise, the European Commis - civil rights, freedom and democracy.” for reforms in our region,” says Mace - sion’s Mirel in Brussels is “very opti - He also worries about “the culture donia’s ambassador to the United States, mistic” about what EU membership of dependence that is emerging Zoran Jolevski. It has also made can achieve. He notes that when Hun - among Balkan political elites. They tell Balkan nations talk to each other gary and Romania joined the EU in their voters that everything is decid - about economic cooperation — some - 2004 and 2007, respectively, long - ed in Brussels and Washington, so it thing they had not done since the standing tensions between the two is like governing without accountabil - wars, he adds. countries, created by demands for ity,” says Kesic. “Thousands of laws Slovenia’s ambassador in Washing - greater rights for the more than one from Brussels are just rubberstamped ton, Roman Kirn, agrees. “The EU was million ethnic Hungarians living in Ro - by national parliaments without any the inspiration for our change in the mania, dissipated. Once the two coun - substantive transformation. It is a rit - early 1990s. Societies need encour - tries became part the EU there was ual for them.” agement to change.” Explaining Slove - freedom of movement between coun - Kesic likens Balkans’ strong sup - nia’s decision to leave one multina - tries and border controls were even - port for joining the EU to blind pas - tional union, Yugoslavia, only to rapidly tually abolished, so the positioning of sion. “The EU is like a religion. The join another, the EU, Kirn says: “The those borders became less politically Balkan peoples are the converts, and EU embraces only democratic states sensitive. converts are always the most fervent and assures one’s political and cultur - Nevertheless, says Mirel, “it will take believers,” he says. “They think there al identity. In Yugoslavia, securing our longer to ease tensions in the Balkans is no alternative. The EU and U.S. language and economic freedoms was because of the wars they fought in have told them this, and they believe much more challenging.” the 1990s.” it now.”

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 385 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

Should NATO keep troops in the ka Srpska in two halves] would “NATO’s presence in Kosovo has a Balkans? EUFOR stop them? I am not so sure,” reassuring effect on our neighbors like Just as there is solid support for he says. He believes the United States’ Macedonia, Croatia and Montenegro, EU membership among the Balkan dominant position within the NATO because they feel there will be no people, NATO is a welcome and nec - force gives the latter more credibility spillover of conflicts, and this allows essary presence for most. NATO peace - than the EU force has on its own. them to focus more on economic con - keepers first arrived in the Balkans in Professor Kanin at SAIS agrees, as - cerns like attracting investors,” says the 1990s to stop the slaughter in serting that the United States is more Kosovo Ambassador Ismaili, who ran Bosnia and Kosovo. trusted than the EU because European his own telecommunications company in Kosovo before being appointed am - bassador. “Investment works [based] on risk aversion, and a huge risk is re - moved by NATO’s presence.” For now, NATO is needed in Koso - vo, but if the Serbian government were to crack down on the organized crime gangs that hold sway in northern Koso - vo, that need would disappear, says Slovenian European parliament member Kacin. “Serbia is the key player,” he says. “Once Serbia accepts that a new c i

v country has been born in Kosovo, it o k

a will create reconciliation in the region.” s I

j Others, such as Mirel at the EU e r d

n Commission, believe that instead of A /

s keeping NATO troops in the region e g

a all Balkan countries should join NATO. m I

y To date, Slovenia and Croatia have t t

e joined NATO — along with Albania G /

P — while all of the others, except Ser - F

A bia, would like to follow suit. A supporter celebrates the victory of Serbian hard-line nationalist Tomislav Nikolic, who The Serbs are still licking their defeated the moderate, pro-European Union (EU) incumbent Boris Tadic on May 20, 2012. Nikolic vowed to pursue his predecessor’s goal of Serbian membership in the EU, but wounds from the NATO airstrikes of some question whether the new president, who is pro-Russian, will follow through. the 1990s and, in particular, from NATO’s decisive role in effectively Hand, the U.S. Congress’ Helsinki governments have a tendency to pick wrenching Kosovo from Serbia’s grasp. Commission representative, says “it is different sides in Balkan conflicts. 8 Kanin’s “If NATO becomes part of a state- absolutely essential” to keep NATO colleague, senior fellow Michael Haltzel building process the way it is in Koso - troops in northern Kosovo, given the at SAIS’ Center for Transatlantic Relations, vo, then that is a problem because it is continuing problems there. He even adds, “There are certain spots that are not neutral; it is a political player,” says suggests that NATO troops might be very dear in Americans’ hearts. West Berlin Serbian-American Kesic. He argues that redeployed to Bosnia if things take a is one. Bosnia is another. I am not sure by enabling Kosovo’s independence, turn for the worse there. that the EU feels the same about it. ” 9 NATO violated U.N. Security Council Res - NATO handed over control of its Many Balkan leaders share this per - olution 1244, which requires that NATO Bosnian peacekeeping mission to the spective. For instance, Slovenian Am - be neutral on the status of Kosovo. EU in December 2004, but Hand is bassador Kirn contrasts how well Eu - The same argument holds true in not convinced that the 1,200-strong EU rope recovered after World War II, Bosnia, he says, where he complains force, known as EUFOR Althea, could when the U.S. played a big role in pro - that NATO has tried to enforce the in - cope if a major conflict erupted. moting European integration, with how tegration of minority communities into “If Republika Srpska tried to take poorly it did after World War I, when the school system. “This task should over Brcko [the independently ad - the United States largely withdrew after have been left up to local officials and ministered locality that splits Republi - the war. Continued on p. 388

386 CQ Global Researcher Chronology

1941 secedes with little bloodshed; 1000 B.C.-1914 Germany conquers and partitions Croatia fights four-year war of Western Balkans is settled by Yugoslavia, allowing Croats to form independence. various peoples and ruled by their own pro-Nazi puppet state. successive empires — Roman, 1992 Byzantine, Ottoman and Aus - 1946 Bosnia declares independence, but tro-Hungarian — creating an Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is minority Serb and Croat popula - ethnically and religiously di - established, with Tito as leader. tions form separatist enclaves; war verse region. ensues. 1948 1389 Yugoslavia splits with other Soviet July 1995 Turks defeat Serbs at the Battle of bloc communist states, pursues in - Bosnian Serb forces kill up to Kosovo, ushering in five centuries dependent foreign policy. 8,000 Muslim boys and men men of Ottoman domination. near Srebrenica — later classified 1974 as genocide by the International 1830 New constitution gives more Court of Justice. NATO intensifies Ottoman Empire goes into decline; power to Yugoslavia’s republics, airstrikes against Serbs. Serbia becomes autonomous. but Tito retains primary authority. 1999 1850 1980 Miloševi ć launches campaign to Scholars agree on Serbo-Croat as a Tito dies without a strong succes - remove all ethnic Albanians from common language, part of a Slavic sor; country starts to disintegrate. Kosovo; NATO bombs Serbia. cultural renaissance. 1987 2004 1878 Slobodan Miloševi ć emerges as the Slovenia becomes first former Wars of independence further leader of Serbia after giving a populist Yugoslav republic to join the weaken Ottoman influence; Austria speech in Kosovo, a mostly Albanian European Union (EU). occupies Bosnia. province in the Serb republic. 2006 1914 • Montenegro secedes from Serbia & Serbian nationalist assassinates Montenegro (a loose union they Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to formed in 2003). the Hapsburg throne, in Sarajevo, 1989-2013 Bosnia, sparking World War I. Nationalism rises across East - 2008 ern Europe and the Balkans as Kosovo declares independence from • the Soviet Union collapses. . . . Serbia, which refuses to recognize it. Yugoslavia splinters into seven independent states after war and 2012 1918-1987 ethnic cleansing. NATO and the Despite EU debt crisis, Western Yugoslavia is formed, com - EU intervene to restore peace. Balkans — including Serbia — con - prised mostly of south Slavs. tinue efforts to join union. . . . War During World War II it is par - 1989 crimes trial of Bosnian Serb leader titioned by the Axis powers. Pro-democracy movements sweep Ratko Mladic begins in The Hague. across former Soviet bloc countries . (Miloševi ć died in the Hague in 1918 2006 during his trial; Bosnian Serb Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and 1990 leader Radovan Karadži ć’s trial is Slovenes is created. It is renamed Nationalists win first multiparty elec - ongoing). Hard-line nationalist Yugoslavia in 1929. tions in Yugoslavia’s republics. Tomislav Nikolic is elected president of Serbia. 1937 1991 Josip Broz (“Tito”) becomes head Croatia, Slovenia and Macedonia 2013 of Yugoslavia’s Communist Party. declare independence. Slovenia Croatia due to join EU.

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 387 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

Ethnic Tensions Threaten Kosovo’s Unity Will the ‘youngest country in the world’ backslide?

eporting from Kosovo, Russian journalist Olga Khrustaleva legal sovereignty over its former province. Most educated and applauded signs that the country was coming back to younger Serbs, however, are more interested in human rights, R life more than a decade after violently splitting from Ser - economic development and membership in the European Union bia. The capital, Pristina, is “an eclectic mixture of East and than in retaking Kosovo, Vojnovic says. “Personally, I respect West,” she wrote, “where traditional Albanian and Ottoman their desire for independence,” she says. “It is more the older houses stand next to fancy hotels.” Kosovo today is over - generation that believes Kosovo belongs to us.” whelmingly populated by ethnic Albanians who converted to The roughly 40,000 ethnic Serbs living in Mitrovica, a self- Islam during Ottoman Turkish rule. imposed enclave in northern Kosovo, are the most passionately “One of its main post-conflict attractions is a sculpture of two- opposed to Kosovo’s independence. “War criminals take ad - meter-high letters spelling out the English word ‘newborn,’ ” she vantage of the situation, and Serbia continues to finance ille - said. Although initially painted white, it is now covered in col - gal structures there,” said Jakup Krasniqi, president of the Koso - orful graffiti and has “become the symbol of ‘the youngest vo parliament, describing the “barricaded life” the Serbs in country in the world,’ as Kosovars call their homeland.” 1 * Kosovo have created for themselves. 2 In 2011, violent clashes However, Pristina’s Orthodox Christian Serb minority, which erupted between the Serbs and NATO peacekeepers who tried once held political sway, is now miniscule, having fled during to remove a roadblock the Serbs had erected to physically sep - the 1999 war to escape reprisals for the part they played in arate their enclave from the rest of Kosovo. trying to purge Kosovo of its Muslim Albanian majority. Thousands of Serbs live elsewhere in Kosovo, particularly Andrijana Vojnovi ć, a Serb who is executive director of the Djind - in Serb-majority municipalities throughout southern Kosovo. Un - jic Fund, a nongovernmental organization in the Serbian capital of like the northerners who have refused to vote or field candi - Belgrade that promotes European values, says, “I am 31 years old dates in Kosovo’s elections, many southerners do vote and also and have never been to Kosovo. Neither have most Serbs my age.” hold government positions. 3 The Kosovo constitution guaran - Neighboring Serbia does not recognize Kosovo’s indepen - tees that the Serb minority will not endure the kinds of dis - dence, which it declared in 2008, and Serbia still claims to have crimination that Kosovo Albanians suffered under Serb rule. The Kosovo government even allowed Kosovo Serbs to vote in elections in neighboring Serbia in May, and invited election orga - * South Sudan, which became a country in 2011, is now the world’s nizers from the Organization for Security and Cooperation in youngest country. Europe to set up polling booths to enable the voting to occur. 4

Continued from p. 386 During the first millennium the their own empire since the 1200s, police. The military is a crude instru - Balkans came under two major influ - were defeated by the Turks at the Bat - ment and should not be used for state ences: the Roman Empire and the tle of Kosovo, ushering in five cen - building,” he says. Constantinople-based Byzantine Em - turies of Turkish domination. pire, with the river Drina as the di - Meanwhile, the Austrian Hapsburg viding line between the two. One of dynasty was expanding into Croat and the Slavic tribes, the Croats, lived in Slovene lands. The Hungarians also BACKGROUND Latin-controlled territories and conse - were a strong presence, often vying quently converted to Roman Catholi - with the Austrians for supremacy, es - cism, while another, the Serbs, lived pecially in Croatia. in Byzantine domains and converted Ottoman and Hapsburg rule involved Historic Hegemony to Orthodox Christianity. 10 multiple and often-shifting alliances, The Byzantine Empire was gradu - creating a patchwork of ethnic groups. xcept for the Albanians, whose an - ally subsumed by the Ottoman Turks, For example, shortly after 1578, the Ecestors are believed to have been who established an empire that had Austrians persuaded Serb refugees flee - native to the region the longest, most extended into the Balkans by the 1300s. ing the Turks to move to Krajina in Croa - of the inhabitants of the Western The Turks introduced Islam to the re - tia to act as a buffer against Ottoman Balkans descended from Slavic tribes gion. A pivotal moment in Balkan his - expansion. The Austrians also persuad - who migrated there from the east in tory occurred on June 28, 1389, when ed some Germans and Hungarians to around the 6th century A.D. the Serbs, who had been expanding move to Serbian lands.

388 CQ Global Researcher With 91 countries now recognizing Kosovo’s independence, many say Kosovo’s biggest challenge today is more economic than political. The country is one of the poorest in Europe, R

with an estimated 40 percent of its workforce unemployed. T S /

However, Akan Ismaili, Kosovo’s ambassador to the United s e g

States, claims the picture is not as bleak as it seems. He jokes a m I that “people in Kosovo tell me — ‘I cannot afford to work for y t t

200 euros a month’ — because they would stop getting re - e G mittances” from the large Kosovar diaspora, which sends money / P F

back from countries like the United States, United Kingdom A and Germany. “The World Bank does not factor in our infor - Kosovo Serb civilians shake hands with NATO peacekeepers in mal social networks in its reports. No one here is dying of northern Kosovo on July 31, 2011. About 90 percent of Kosovo’s hunger or because it is too cold in winter,” he says. inhabitants are Albanian Muslims. Serbs living in Mitrovica, a self- Even as Kosovo’s leaders focus on attracting more foreign in - imposed Serb enclave in the north, refuse to integrate into the new state. In 2011, violent clashes erupted between Serbs and NATO vestment to help expand the economy, the country’s painful past security forces after the troops tried to remove a Serb roadblock could be resurrected. Referring to atrocities perpetrated in the 1990s, separating the enclave from the rest of Kosovo. The conflict was a recent report from Amnesty International noted that “hundreds resolved, but tensions remain high in the region. of crimes under international law remain unresolved,” including massacres committed both by Serb forces on villagers in Kosovo, 2 and by the Kosovo Liberation Army on the Serbs. 5 Krasniqi was speaking at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C., on June 20, 2012. This being the Balkans, the chances that Kosovo could back - 3 Stefan Lehne, “Kosovo and Serbia: Toward a Normal Relationship,” Carnegie slide cannot be excluded, despite its leaders’ best intentions. Endowment for International Peace, March 2012, www.carnegieendowment.org/ files/Kosovo_and_Serbia.pdf. — Brian Beary 4 From presentation by Ed Joseph, deputy head of the OSCE Mission to Kosovo, at The Johns Hopkins University’s School for Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., May 25, 2012. 1 Olga Khrustaleva, “Art and Identity in Kosovo,” The Moscow News , Feb. 28, 5 “Time for EU Kosovo mission to focus on war crimes,” press release, 2012, http://themoscownews.com/blogs/20120228/189496475.html. Amnesty International, April 24, 2012.

Under Ottoman rule, many Bosni - leading powers, Austria- Hungary was who occupied Kosovo in 1912, mas - ans converted to Islam, since they allowed to occupy Bosnia and later sacring some 20,000 Albanians. 12 were allowed to keep their lands if annexed it in 1908. A watershed moment in Balkan — and they converted. Montenegro, with sup - Meanwhile, a Slavic cultural renais - indeed world — history occurred on June port from Russia, managed to resist sance was taking root, with Serb and 28, 1914, when a Bosnian Serb, Gavri - Ottoman domination and was ruled Croat scholars, for instance, agreeing lo Princip, assassinated the heir to the by its own prince-bishops. in 1850 on a dialect that would form Austro-Hungarian throne, Franz Ferdi - Both the Hapsburgs and Ottomans the basis of a common language, nand, who was visiting the Bosnian cap - fell into decline in the 1800s, having called Serbo-Croat. 11 ital, Sarajevo. Because of the intricate failed to keep up with modernizing In the early 1900s, both the Al - web of military alliances European pow - trends. The conquered Slavs began to banian and the Slavic Balkan nations ers had woven during the preceding reassert their identity. By 1830 the Serbs, made a final push to purge their decades, the assassination plunged the backed by Russia, which sought more homelands of Turkish influence, caus - continent — and eventually the whole power in the region, had succeeded ing millions of Muslims, including many world — into World War I (1914-18). in establishing an autonomous princi - Bosniaks, to flee eastward to modern- pality. The Ottoman supremacy was day Turkey. Albanians, who had con - further weakened in 1878, when Serbs verted to Islam during Ottoman rule, Yugoslavia’s Rise and Montenegrins successfully revolt - began asserting their independence as ed, winning full independence. In the well. This created conflict with their hen Europe’s borders were re - ensuing territorial carve-up by Europe’s Orthodox Christian neighbors, the Serbs, Wdrawn after World War I, a new

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 389 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

Yugoslavia, about a million Yugoslavs Most Balkan Nations Not in EU, NATO were killed during World War II, most - Slovenia in 2004 became the Þrst former Yugoslav country to join the European ly at the hands of fellow Yugoslavs, with Serbs suffering the most losses . 14 Union (EU). Croatia is slated to join in July 2013. They, along with Albania, Communist resistance to the Nazis Bulgaria and Greece, are the only Balkan countries that have joined the North had been led by Josip Broz, a half- Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Serbia and Montenegro are strong Slovenian, half-Croat known as Tito. 15 candidates for EU membership, while Macedonia, Kosovo and Bosnia and After the war, as communists were as - Herzegovina face domestic and international political hurdles against joining. cending to power across Eastern Eu - rope, the anti-communist Western pow - EU and NATO Membership Status ers backed Tito to be Yugoslavia’s leader EU NATO because he had split with the com - Slovenia Joined, May 2004 Joined, March 2004 munist Soviet Union — the West’s arch- rival. Tito’s feud with the Soviets had Croatia Due to join in July 2013 after signing Joined, April 2009 begun in 1947, after he tried to posi - treaty to join in November 2011 tion himself as a pan-Balkan leader, Montenegro Candidate since December 2010. Candidate advocating a Balkan federation that Began membership talks in July 2012. would include its neighbor Bulgaria. Serbia Candidate since March 2012. Not interested in joining Tito conceived of such a federation as Macedonia Candidate since December 2005; Candidate. Was due to an alternative to Soviet domination in membership stalled due to Greece’s join in 2009, but Greece the Balkans. refusal to allow the country to vetoed the application But his plan failed and Tito became call itself “Macedonia” * over name dispute. persona non grata among Eastern Eu - rope’s other communist leaders, who Bosnia and Potential candidate. Inter-ethnic Candidate backed the Soviets. Meanwhile, the Herzegovina divisions have blocked talks. Soviets moved quickly to tighten their Kosovo Potential candidate but membership Not yet a candidate grip over Eastern Europe, a phenom - must be approved unanimously, and enon Churchill famously likened to an 5 of 27 EU countries** do not “Iron Curtain” descending across the recognize Kosovo as an continent. independent country. Tito’s newly reconstituted Yugoslavia of 1946 comprised the same territory * Macedonia is the name of Greece’s largest region. as the Kingdom of Yugoslavia that ex - ** The Þve are Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia, Spain. isted before the war, but it was no Sources: European Union, europa.eu; North Atlantic Treaty Organization, www.nato.int longer a monarchy but a communist state — and one that he ruled with an country made up predominantly of was essentially a Nazi puppet regime iron fist. To prevent Serbia from be - south Slavic peoples was cobbled to - run by the fascist Ustase Party, led by coming overly-dominant, he took steps gether from the ruins of the Ottoman nationalist politician Ante Pavelic. Ini - — such as carving a new republic, and Austro-Hungarian Empires. Initially tially, many Croats welcomed their in - Macedonia, out of Serb territory and called the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats dependence but grew discontented giving autonomy to the Serb provinces and Slovenes, it was rechristened Yu - after Italy began seizing large swathes of Kosovo and Vojvodina, where many goslavia in 1929. 13 A Serbian dynasty, of territory. The Ustase government col - ethnic Albanians and Hungarians lived. the Karadjordjevics, became the rul - lapsed in 1945, and its supporters, The six constituent republics and two ing monarchy, creating tension among who had massacred many Serbs while autonomous provinces of Yugoslavia non-Serbs. in power, suffered massive reprisals. saw their powers enhanced in 1974 in During World War II (1939-45) Yu - Elsewhere in wartime Yugoslavia, a decentralizing constitutional revamp. goslavia began to fall apart after the the Serbs repressed a separatist insur - Although Tito repressed ethnic na - Axis powers, Germany and Italy, in - gency mounted by ethnic Alb anians in tionalism, he remained popular as the vaded in April 1941. Croats were al - modern-day Kosovo — a region that country urbanized and living standards lowed to form their own state called Albania, Germany, Italy and Serbia were improved. Citizens were allowed to the Independent State of Croatia, which vying to control. In total throughout travel to capitalist countries in the

390 CQ Global Researcher West, where they could work and In the Slovenian republic, authori - Bosnia’s territory between them. Yu - bring back consumer goods — a priv - ties in Belgrade arrested nationalist goslavia’s last prime minister, Croatian ilege their communist neighbors be - dissidents in 1988, but that only fur - Ante Markovi ć, tried to keep the coun - hind the Iron Curtain did not have. ther strengthened Slovenians’ determi - try together by pushing through de - During the Tito era, each Yugoslav nation to leave Yugoslavia. 20 mocratic and free-market reforms, but republic tended to specialize in a par - Further afield, the increased politi - his message of reason over national - ticular economic activity. Croatia, with its cal freedom Soviet leader Mikhail Gor - ism fell largely on deaf ears. long coastline, relied heavily on tourism; bachev began introducing in the So - Western powers wanted to keep Serbia developed a car manufacturing industry; Bosnia a coal industry; Mace - donians specialized in food production and Slovenia produced household con - sumer goods. The economy, however, was heavily dependent on Western aid and remittances from Yugoslav émigrés. i

By the early 1980s, it was stagnating, k s v with rising unemployment and debt lev - o s a els and a growing gap between the rich - n a 16 t A er and poorer regions. t r

During the Cold War, Tito created e b o

a diplomatic niche for himself by lead - R / s e

ing the “nonaligned movement,” which g a m

brought together countries that chose I

y t not to side with either the United States t e G or the Soviets. By the late 1970s, he / P was signing cooperation agreements F A with the European Community (the EU’s Macedonian demonstrators wave banners and national flags during a rally in front of the forerunner), and Yugoslavia was posi - Greek Liaison Office in Macedonia’s capital, Skopje, on April 9, 2010. Greece has been tioned to become the first Eastern Eu - blocking Macedonia’s application to join the European Union, demanding that the country change its name. Macedonia is the name of Greece’s largest and second-most-populous ropean country to join that organiza - region and was the name of a powerful kingdom in ancient Greece tion. But, despite his considerable that was the home of Alexander the Great. political skills, Tito failed to provide for a successor. After he died in May 1980, viet Union in 1985 culminated in Yugoslavia united, but they were too the system he had carefully construct - popular revolutions in 1989 in Poland, busy dealing with the fallout from the ed slowly fell apart. 17 Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, collapse of communism in Eastern Eu - Czechoslovakia and Romania. The fall rope, reunification of Germany in 1990 of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 and dissolution of the Soviet Union in Breakup and Recovery was an iconic moment in the seismic 1991 to devote sufficient attention to political tumult that was demolishing the Balkans. U.S. Secretary of State y the late 1980s, nationalist politi - Europe’s communist regimes. James A. Baker was reputed to have Bcians were ascending to power in Meanwhile, in Yugoslavia ethnic na - said about Yugoslavia’s breakup, “we Yugoslavia. In the constituent Yugoslav tionalism was fast replacing commu - do not have a dog in this fight.” 21 republic of Serbia, Communist Party nism as the dominant political force. In June 1991, Slovenia and Croatia chief Slobodan Miloševi ć rode a wave In the Yugoslav republic of Croatia, the declared their independence; Macedo - of nationalism that began to surge after party of longtime nationalist Franjo Tudj - nia followed suit in September. In De - Serbian academics published a paper man won a majority in the republic’s cember, Germany’s foreign minister, arguing that Serbs had been perennial first multiparty elections in 1990. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, successfully victims throughout history. 18 A defin - In Bosnia, Yugoslavia’s most multi - pressured his EU colleagues into rec - ing moment for Miloševi ć was a visit ethnic republic, Bosniaks watched this ognizing Slovenia and Croatia. 22 Bosnia’s to Kosovo in April 1987, when he told surge in nationalism with alarm, es - secession followed in early 1992, but it a group of protesting Serbs “no one pecially after Miloševi ć and Tudjman was complicated by the Bosnian Serbs, should dare to beat you.” 19 made it clear they wanted to carve up who proclaimed their own independent

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 391 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

enclave — Republika Srpska — around and prevented food or supplies from the early 1990s to punish the perpe - the same time. entering for nearly four years. More trators of Yugoslav war crimes. 31 Unlike the relatively peaceful dis - than 11,500 people, mostly civilians, In July 2008, Radovan Karadži ć, the solution of Europe’s other two multi - were killed, many by sharpshooters. political leader of the Bosnian Serbs ethnic communist states — the Sovi - Bosnia’s Croat minority also destroyed during the Bosnian war, was arrested et Union and Czechoslovakia — a world-famous bridge in the religiously in Serbia and extradited to The Hague, Yugoslavia’s breakup was brutal, bloody mixed city of Mostar. 28 Constructed charged with war crimes committed and prolonged. Ethnic cleansing be - by the Ottoman Turks in 1566, the against Bosnian Muslims and Croats. came its hallmark. The two bloodiest bridge had become a symbol of Bosnia’s In May 2011 the Belgrade authorities conflicts were the wars of indepen - religious tolerance and pluralism. 29 did the same with the Bosnian Serb dence in Bosnia (1992-95) and Croatia The Bosnia war set some important military leader, Ratko Mladi ć. 32 (1991-95) against the Serb-dominated post-Cold War precedents, enshrining Slovenia was the first former Yu - state of Yugoslavia. The Serbs expelled patterns of behavior that would be re - goslav republic to be admitted to the hundreds of thousands of non-Serbs peated in subsequent conflicts, such EU, in 2004, while Croatia signed a from areas they controlled, while Serbs as an initial failure of the international treaty in November 2011 agreeing to who lived in vulnerable enclaves — community to respond, followed by join. It will become the 28th member notably in Krajina, Croatia — them - a belated U.S.-led NATO air campaign of the EU in July 2013. selves fled to Serb-controlled areas. 23 to stop the war. For instance, when But in northern Kosovo, ethnic ten - By 1995, Croatia had consolidated con - a violent conflict between Albanians sions flared again in 2011 after Kosovo trol of its territory and the Serbs’ share and Serbs began to escalate in Koso - Albanians tried to enforce a trade boy - of Croatia’s population had declined vo in the late 1990s, NATO inter - cott against Serbian goods, and Koso - from 12.6 percent to 4.5 percent. 24 vened in order to prevent Bosnian- vo’s Serbs reacted by erecting roadblocks The worst atrocities occurred in Bosnia, style atrocities. NATO bombed Serbia to prevent the free movement of peo - where about 100,000 people were killed, relentlessly for three months in early ple and goods between northern and with Bosnian Muslims bearing the brunt 1999 after Miloševi ć tried to purge southern Kosovo. The flare-up ultimate - of the violence. 25 In Bosnia, mass rape Kosovo of its Albanian population. ly was resolved, however, when talks of women became a weapon of war, Eventually the Serb leader withdrew between Kosovo and Serbia led to an torture was widespread, thousands were his troops from Kosovo. EU-brokered agreement in February 2012, imprisoned in concentration camps, Kosovo Albanian refugees quickly under which the two sides also reached hundreds of thousands were forcibly ex - returned home, and a NATO force a compromise on how Kosovo could pelled from their homes, religious sites moved in to restore law and order. represent itself in regional forums. 33 were desecrated and whole villages Kosovo’s split from Serbia was further Meanwhile, the EU commissioned were razed to rubble. In sharp contrast, cemented in February 2008, when it a feasibility study on a future stabi - Slovenia, more homogenous and remote declared independence. 30 lization and association agreement with from Serbia, emerged as an independent Likewise, Montenegro had seceded Kosovo — the first step toward even - country relatively unscathed by war, while from Serbia in 2006. Although it had been tual membership. Macedonia also managed to avoid a a close Serbian ally in the past, by the major conflict. 26 early 2000s the two had grown apart. Un - Europe’s single worst atrocity since like other secessions, Serbia chose to allow the Nazi era occurred in Bosnia in Montenegro to go without a battle. CURRENT July 1995, when U.N.-mandated Dutch With the wars over, Western Balkan peacekeepers in the town of Srebrenica nations focused on integrating into the became overwhelmed by Bosnian EU and NATO. The EU confirmed its SITUATION Serb soldiers bent on killing Bosniaks. support for all Western Balkans nations The Serbs gunned down between 7,000 joining the organization at summits in and 8,000 Bosniak men and boys over Zagreb, Croatia, in 2000 and Thessa - Euro Crisis five days, as they tried to flee to Bosnian- loniki, Greece, in 2003. government-held territories. 27 However, it also imposed strict con - n mid-2012, the hottest issue in the Other dark chapters in the Bosnian ditions on starting membership talks, IBalkans is the worsening economic war (1992-95) included the infamous such as handing over indicted war crim - situation, which has been exacerbat - siege of Sarajevo, when thousands of inals to a special tribunal in The Hague ed by the ongoing EU debt crisis. 34 Serbian troops surrounded the city established by the United Nations in Continued on p. 394

392 CQ Global Researcher At Issue:

Shoyes uld all EU countries recognize Kosovo’s independence?

ULRIKE LUNACEK MLADEN MRDALJ MEMBER , E UROPEAN PARLIAMENT PHD CANDIDATE AND LECTURER (G REEN PARTY , A USTRIA ) DEPARTMENT OF POLITICAL SCIENCE EU R APPORTEUR ON KOSOVO NORTHEASTERN UNIVERSITY , B OSTON

WRITTEN FOR CQ GLOBAL RESEARCHER , AUGUST 2012 WRITTEN FOR CQ GLOBAL RESEARCHER , AUGUST 2012

ould you want your country’s athletes to have to he norms evolving within Europe since World War II have participate in the Olympics under the flag of another delegitimized violence. Nobody expects civil wars in Belgium, w country? Would you want your football, basketball or t Scotland, Spain or Northern Ireland anymore. Outside of swimming team not to be able to compete in European or Europe, however, the Cold War legitimized violence as the Super world championships? I imagine not. But for Kosovo citizens, Powers disregarded international law. Realism favors a simplistic that is a day-to-day-reality. narrative advocating “good vs. evil,” nationalism, religious funda - But there are two other, more significant, reasons why the mentalism and hard power. Thus, the European Union’s (EU) main five recalcitrant European Union (EU) member states who do diplomatic tool — “soft power” — becomes much less important, not recognize Kosovo — Cyprus, Greece, Romania, Slovakia unlike its dependence on NATO’s security framework. and Spain — should reconsider their position. The recognition of Kosovo Albanians’ violent secession funda - First, to complete the European peace project, conceived in mentally disturbed the international system. The International response to the horrors of World War II, all the Western Court of Justice elegantly evaded answering whether Kosovo is Balkans must become part of the EU and fulfill the Union’s independent or not, even after it was recognized by the powerful eligibility requirements on human rights, democracy and a Western countries. It simply ruled that international law contains market econyomy — the soe-called Copes nhagen criteria. The no “prohibition non declarations of oindependence.” Brazil, Russia, future of independent Kosovo lies in the EU. But up until India, China and South Africa, as well as five EU members and now not even a contractual relationship has been possible be - more than half of the U.N.’s members see unilateral declarations tween the EU and Kosovo because of the five members who of independence as a dangerous precedent. Palestinians, Kurds, still view Kosovo as part of Serbia. The biggest EU civilian Bosnian Christians, Turkish Cypriots, Macedonian Albanians and mission, EULEX, tasked with strengthening the rule of law in Georgia’s northern provinces want independence, too. Kosovo, is not allowed to consider Kosovo as an independent Without respect for international laws and norms, the Balkans state. Thus, the EU Delegation in Kosovo must be called “EU- will continue to simmer. Kosovo is in limbo. It is a failed entity Office.” While these may seem like minor symbolic details, run by impotent EU officials. Powerful local clans bridge orga - they waste EU citizens’ time and money. nized crime and politics. Kosovo cannot join major international Secondly, the International Court of Justice ruled in July organizations. The remaining non-Albanians in Kosovo are op - 2010 that Kosovo’s unilateral declaration of independence in pressed, and ancient Serbian Christian holy sites are in jeopardy. 2008 did not violate international law, arguing that due to Unconditional U.S. backing for Kosovo has hushed moderate Al - Slobodan Miloševi ć’s oppression and massive violence, Kosovo banian voices. The Serbian political elite who are offering “all but Albanians had a right to self-determination. independence” is reluctantly accepting Russian and Chinese sup - I tell representatives of the five countries that do not recog - port. The conflict remains frozen, as it is difficult to threaten Serbia. nize Kosovo that nonrecognition is based on fear that their Serbia has remained a functional democracy for 12 years after own ethnic minorities might want independence. Such a fear Slobodan Miloševi ć left office; it is an EU membership candidate discredits your own democratic govern ments. None of you has and has offered peaceful solutions under different governments. ever massacred or deported your ethnic minorities as the The EU must counterbalance inconsistent U.S. foreign policy, Miloševi ć regime did to its Kosovo Albanian citizens. which foments anti-Western coalitions in the developing world. Daring leaders are needed — in Serbia and in Kosovo and The EU must apply similar standards to similar situations: Serbia in the five countries that do not recognize Kosovo. They and Cyprus have exactly the same problem, but the EU granted should end this sad story of nonrecognition so Kosovo can full membership to Cyprus, while excluding their separatists. This start working at more important things, such as rule of law, approach helped negotiations immensely, even though full settle - social justice, human rights — especially women’s and minori - ment has yet to be reached. Kosovo is a much smaller conflict. ties’ rights — press freedom, economic development, state Serbia offers Kosovo autonomy that amounts to “all but indepen - building and protection of the environment. If not, then we dence.” Without unified Western backing, the Albanians would risk losing not only Kosovo and its citizens but also our own have to moderate their position. The alternative is a frozen con -

Europeno an peace project. flict and promotion of realpolitik , against the EU’s best interests.

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 393 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

Continued from p. 392 That Greece is at the center of the ‘MK’ (Macedonia) country designation For example, the crisis threatens to debt crisis is hampering Macedonia’s with a ‘FYROM’ (Former Yugoslav Re - bankrupt Croatia, which already had EU hopes, because the massive eco - public of Macedonia) designation. 36 high debt levels due to its war of in - nomic suffering in that country is mak - Macedonian Ambassador Jolevski, dependence. Now Croatia faces capi - ing the Greeks less inclined to com - the government’s chief negotiator in tal flight, as Italian and Austrian banks promise in their name dispute with talks with Greece on the name issue, that bought Croatian banks pull funds Macedonia. In June elections, the far slams Athens for escalating the dis - back to their home countries. right Golden Dawn party made sig - pute, saying it violates an agreement With EU leaders engaged in nificant advances, securing 18 seats in the two sides signed in the 1990s. seemingly endless emergency sum - parliament, further diminishing the like - Inside Macedonia, things are improving mits to save the EU single curren - lihood of a rapid resolution of the dis - for the Albanian minority, says lawyer cy, the euro, the Western Balkans pute. Furthermore, if Greece is forced Alexandrovski. “You see Albanian - language universities opening up and Albanians getting more jobs in the ad - ministration,” he notes. Ambassador Jolevski says the government is mak - ing progress in increasing the percentage of ethnic Albanians employed as civil servants in the Macedonian administra - tion from 8 percent to 25 percent — which is the Albanians’ share of the overall population. The EU Commission’s Mirel says the economic crisis “has not affected the strong support for EU membership among the Balkans’ citizens.” EU citi - c i

c zens, he says, may be less supportive k u

r overall of EU integration and enlarge - a B

s ment, but they harbor no specific hos - i v l

E tility toward Balkan enlargement as some / s e

g do toward Turkey joining the union. a m

I “The Western Balkans nations are

y t

t closer to us geographically, so EU cit - e G

/ izens have different ties to them, plus P F

A they are smaller countries than Turkey,” Former soldiers from Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia pose in front of the war-ravaged National Mirel says. Moreover, because of their Library building in Sarajevo on April 14, 2012. Once bitter foes, the veterans have been recent wars, the Balkans need the sta - making sporadic contact through a mediator in an effort to prevent a repeat of the bility membership in the EU provides, brutal Balkan wars of the 1990s. Meanwhile, on May 16 former Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladi ć went on trial in The Hague for his role in the massacre of thousands of he says. Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica during the Bosnian conflict.

has dropped down their priority list out of the eurozone because of its Healing Old Wounds significantly. “We have less time and high debt, it could hurt the EU’s rep - money for this region, so we expect utation in the Balkans. Should Greece erbia’s relations with the EU are im - more of the countries there,” noted be forced out of the EU entirely, it Sproving. In March, the EU agreed Miroslav Laj čák, managing director would be the first time a member left to open membership negotiations with of the European External Action Ser - the union. the country blamed for most of the vice, the EU’s diplomatic corps. How - In June 2012, Greece ordered its war crimes perpetrated during the 1990s ever, “our policy goal of enlarging customs agents to start putting stick - wars — a decision made in part to re - the union to take in the Western ers over the license plates of cars en - ward Belgrade for handing over in - Balkan countries has never been in tering from Macedonia. The purpose dicted war criminals Mladi ć and Goran question,” he added. 35 of Greece’s action was to replace the Had ži ć to the tribunal in The Hague.

394 CQ Global Researcher Mladi ć’s trial, which began in May, Economically, according to Kesic, a Darko Brkan, a Bosnian who is spotlighting his role in the massacre perfect storm of factors has conspired founded the Sarajevo-based non - of thousands of Bosniak men in Sre - to put severe stress on Serbia, includ - governmental organization Why Not brenica. Mladi ć “ordered the killing of ing a drop in remittances from emi - — which advocates for a non-ethnic- my husband, my son, my two broth - grants and the drying up of foreign in - based identity — has mounted a cam - ers, and my brother-in-law,” charges vestment — both due to the global paign to persuade Bosnians to write Kada Hotic, who traveled to The Hague financial crisis — and the inability to “citizen” on the census form, instead from Srebrenica to witness the trial. raise additional revenue by privatizing of selecting an ethnic category. He “Now that I look him in the face, I state assets. After rushing to privatize hopes if enough people do this it will want revenge.” 37 state-owned companies after indepen - help to force Bosnia’s political system At the trial’s opening, prosecutors dence, Serbia and its neighbors are to become less ethno-centric. showed video footage depicting now renationalizing some entities that “The only thing the leaders of the Mladi ć “barking orders, prisoners lin - turned into costly financial flops. three official constituent peoples — ing up, bodies piled up and women “With a quarter of our population Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks — have and children climbing onto buses for unemployed, people have become never disagreed on is supremacy of deportation,” according to The New hopeless,” Kesic says, in contrast to the ethnicity as the basis of our political York Times. optimism they felt in the early 2000s system,” he complains. While the U.S. and European gov - after the wars ended and the EU mem - ernments strongly support such trials, bership process was commencing. Serbian- American analyst Kesic feels that Montenegro’s finance minister, they only reopen old wounds. “The tri - Milorad Katni ć, says his government is OUTLOOK als foster a sense of victimhood for each focused primarily on the economy. nation and make everyone outside of “There are huge differences in wealth the Balkans afraid of the region,” he between the north and south of our says. The trials have given the Serbs “a country,” he laments. “We need better Stable Borders? siege mentality now” and made them connectivity of infrastructure” between less willing to compromise on issues the two halves and more exploitation such as the return of refugees. of the north’s resources including coal or outsiders, the big questions re - The improvement in EU-Serb rela - and hydro-energy. 40 Fmain whether the Western Balkans tions suffered a setback in May, how - Macedonia, meanwhile, has seen a could slip back into the kind of bloody ever, when hard-line nationalist Tomis - rise in radical Islam in some of the conflict the world witnessed in the 1990s. lav Nikolic narrowly defeated the more country’s Muslim population, says Amer - Croatian Kunc thinks that is unlike - moderate, pro-EU incumbent, Boris ican University’s Pagovski. After five ly. “Southeast Europe has traditionally Tadic in the presidential election. The Macedonians were brutally murdered been controlled by outside powers weak Serbian economy, with unem - in April, the government arrested 20 that create the basic political frame - ployment at 24 percent, is thought to ethnic Albanians for the crime, alleg - work and security architecture,” he says. have been a factor in Nikolic’s win. ing that the killings were done in the “In the past, it was the Ottoman and Some question whether Serbia will name of Islam to foment fear among Hapsburg empires, then Paris and Lon - continue down the path to EU mem - the public. 41 don after World War I, followed by bership, given that Nikolic is known to Meanwhile, in Bosnia all eyes are Washington and Moscow during the be more pro-Russian than Tadic was and turning toward the 2013 census, the Cold War. Today, it is the EU and U.S. is a former ally of Slobodan Miloševi ć, first since the 1990s war. The census that are playing this role.” who died in 2006 at the Hague in the should chart precisely what popula - Kunc believes that “once this new midst of his own war crimes trial . 38 In - tion shifts have occurred as a result security architecture is in place, things deed, shortly after his election, Nikolic of the ethnic-cleansing sweeps of the will settle down.” But, he concludes, proclaimed that “there was no genocide early 1990s. According to Hand at the “the peace will last only as long as in Srebrenica,” incurring strong con - Helsinki Commission, “it will be in - the security cap of the current super - demnation from Western leaders, al - teresting to see if the census is used visory powers — the EU and U.S. — though he did admit that Serbs had to reinforce ethnic divisions or if holds.” In other words, should the EU committed “grave war crimes” there. 39 Bosnians will use i t as an opportuni - and U.S. dominance in the region come Tadic had visited Srebrenica and apol - ty to stop identifying themselves in eth - to an end, another shakeup would ogized for the massacre. nic terms.” occur, he believes.

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 395 THE TROUBLED BALKANS

His view is broadly shared by Philip they noted, was that “victory, in the joined the EU in 2004 and 2007. The H. Gordon, U.S. assistant secretary of former Yugoslavia, will fall not to the challenge in the coming decade will State at the Bureau of European and just, but to the strong.” 43 be for the Western Balkans to move Eurasian Affairs, who predicted that But Slovenian parliament member beyond ethnic and territorial disputes when the Balkan states join the EU, Kacin has a brighter prognosis. He and focus on fostering prosperity. “borders will become less important. feels Serbia will ultimately choose to “I would like to see the region focus Just as between France and Germany become fully integrated into the EU more on functional cooperation — things it was once critically important which — and eventually into NATO. Kacin like tourism promotion and education - side of the border you lived on and says the recent election of nationalist al exchanges,” says American Universi - what your ethnicity was, today in the Nikolic as Serbian president makes it ty’s Pagovski, the Macedonian student. EU there is nothing at that border.” 42 critical that Serbians install a strong “I have traveled to almost all European Gordon added that the United States government capable of leading the countries, and yet I have never been did not want to see any more border country into successful negotiations on to Montenegro, Albania or Croatia. Mine changes in the Balkans and firmly op - EU membership. is a typical story for the region.” poses secession by the Serbs in Koso - The EU Commission’s Mirel agrees vo and Bosnia. “That would open a that all Balkan states will, at different Pandora’s box that could never be paces, beat a path to Brussels. Mirel closed,” he said, adding that “there is predicts that after Croatia joins in 2013, Notes no way to start redrawing the borders Montenegro will join next, followed that stops in a stable place.” by Serbia and then Macedonia, al - 1 “Arrest and revival: The capture of Ratko But Kesic, the Serbian-American an - though he concedes the name dispute Mladic may revive European enlargement,” alyst, says it will be very difficult for between Greece and Macedonia is “very The Economist , June 2, 2011, www.economist. the Balkans to put the wars behind frustrating.” As for the two states farthest com/node/18774412 . 2 them, because no clear-cut victor has from membership, Mirel says Bosnia will For background, see Sarah Glazer, “Stop - ping Genocide,” CQ Researcher , Aug. 27, emerged. He contrasts the situation join if it can reform its constitutional 2004, pp. 685-708; and Jina Moore, “Truth with “most other conflicts where you framework and become “more func - Commissions,” CQ Global Researcher , Jan. 1, have a winner and a loser, like World tional,” and there “is no legal imped - 2001, pp. 1-24. War II or post-apartheid South Africa, iment” to Kosovo joining, even though 3 Laura Silber and Allan Little, Yugoslavia: where you can have a reconciliation five EU countries still don’t recognize Death of a Nation (1997). based on a new reality.” its independence. 4 For background, see Brian Beary, “Separatist In their acclaimed book, Yugoslavia: The long preoccupation with polit - Movements,” CQ Global Researcher , April 1, 2008, Death of a Nation , Laura Silber and ical issues in the Western Balkans has pp. 85-114. Allan Little — two journalists based in meant that economic concerns have 5 Kanin was speaking at a talk entitled “Koso - the Balkans in the 1990s — suggest - been neglected, even as the Balkans vo: Does an Asterisk Make a Difference?” at ed that the wars would continue to have slipped further behind the rest The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Ad - vanced International Studies, Washington, D.C., cast a long shadow over the region. of Europe in living standards, includ - on April 4, 2012. The lesson learned from the conflict, ing the 10 ex-communist states that 6 Besimi was speaking on Macedonia at Georgetown University, Washington, D.C., on April 16, 2012. About the Author 7 Ibid. 8 Kanin, op. cit. Brian Beary , a freelance Irish journalist based in Washington, 9 Haltzel was speaking at a talk entitled “A specializes in European Union (EU) affairs and is the U.S. corre - New Approach to Constitutional Reform in spondent for the daily newspaper, Europolitics. Originally from Bosnia and Herzegovina” at The Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Dublin, he worked in the European Parliament for Irish MEP Studies, Washington, D.C., on April 24, 2012. Pat “The Cope” Gallagher in 2000 and at the EU Commission’s 10 Leslie Benson, Yugoslavia: A Concise History Eurobarometer unit on public opinion analysis. Beary also writes (2004), pp. 1-20. for the Washington-based European Institute and The Globalist. 11 Ibid. His most recent report for CQ Global Researcher was “Future 12 Benson, op. cit. , p. 19. of the EU .” He also authored the 2011 CQ Press book, Sepa - 13 Brad Blitz (ed.), War And Change in the ratist Movements, A Global Reference. Balkans (2006), pp. 13-29. 14 Benson, op. cit. , p. 73.

396 CQ Global Researcher 15 Silber and Little, op. cit. , p. 28. 16 Dejan Jovic, “The Disintegration of Yugoslavia: A Critical Review of Explanatory Approaches,” FOR MORE INFORMATION European Journal of Social Theory 4(1): 101- Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina , 1634 Eye St., 120, 2001. N.W., Washington, DC 20006 ; 202-347-6742 ; www.baacbh.org . Advances the interests 17 Blitz, op. cit. , p. 24. of Bosnian-Americans to the U.S. public and policymakers. 18 Silber and Little, op. cit. 19 Ibid. , p. 38. Center for Justice and Reconciliation , Avde Jabucice 34, 71000 Sarajevo, Bosnia 20 Ibid. , p. 48. and Herzegovina ; www.cjr.ba . Established in 2005 by local experts and journalists; 21 Blitz, op. cit. , p. 101. works with media outlets to promote peace, reconciliation and transitional justice 22 Ibid. , p. 63. in Bosnia. 23 Ibid. , p. 130. 24 Center for Transatlantic Relations , School of Advanced International Studies, Ibid. , p. 245. The Johns Hopkins University, 1717 Massachusetts Ave., N.W., #525, Washington, 25 Research and Documentation Center, Sara - DC 20036 ; 202-663-5880 ; http://transatlantic.sais-jhu.edu . Closely monitors develop - jevo: www.idc.org.ba/index.php?option=com_ ments in the Western Balkans from a U.S. and EU foreign policy viewpoint. content&view=section&id=35&Itemid=126&lang =bs . European Commission , Directorate General for Enlargement, Rue de la Loi 200, 26 Silber and Little, op. cit. , p. 156. For ad - 1049 Brussels, Belgium ; +32 2 299 9696 ; www.ec.europa.eu/enlargement . Oversees ditional background, see Jina Moore, “Con - the Western Balkans’ applications to join the EU. fronting Rape as a Weapon of War,” CQ Glob - German Marshall Fund of the United States , 1744 R St., N.W., Washington, DC al Researcher , May 1, 2010, pp. 105-130. 20009 ; 202-683-2650 ; www.gmfus.org . Set up by the German government after World 27 Blitz, op. cit. , p. 132. War II to promote transatlantic relations; promotes stability in the Western Balkans. 28 John F. Burns, “A Siege by Any Other Name Would Be as Painful,” The New York Times , Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe , Wallnerstrasse 6, 1010 Aug. 17, 1993, www.nytimes.com/1993/08/17/ Vienna, Austria ; +43 1 514 360 ; www.osce.org . An intergovernmental organization world/a-siege-by-any-other-name-would-be-as- with 56 member countries; promotes regional security and has a strong presence painful.html?pagewanted=all&src=pm . in the Western Balkans. 29 Silber and Little, op. cit. , p. 291. 30 Post-Conflict Research Centre , Zagrebacka 69, 71000, Sarajevo, Bosnia and Blitz, op. cit. , pp. 143-155. Herzegovina ; +387 033 810 861 ; www.p-crc.org . A nongovernmental organization 31 Danijela Bozovic, Marko Vujacic, and Nikola that promotes peace and reconciliation in Bosnia. M. Zivkovic, “The Future of the European Union Enlargement: the case of the Western Balkans,” U.S. Helsinki Commission , 234 Ford House Office Building, 3rd and D Streets, Center for European Policy/Union of Euro - S.W., Washington, DC 20515 ; 202-225-1901 ; www.csce.gov . An independent agency pean Federalists Serbia, 2010, www.uef.rs/ of the U.S. government focused on promoting human rights and democracy. The materijal/dokumenta/UEF%20Serbia_Future% Western Balkans is a priority. 20of%20the%20European%20Union%20Enlarge Zoran Djindjic Fund , Zmaja od Nocaia 12/IV, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia ; +381 11 26 ment_the%20Case%20of%20Western%20Balkans. 23 056 ; www.fond-djindjic.org . A nonprofit organization that promotes European pdf . values in Serbia. 32 Ivan Vejvoda, “Fifteen Years After Srebrenica, Serbia Comes to Terms With its Past,” German Marshall Fund of the United States, July 16, 36 Coilin O’Connor, “License to Bicker: Mace - dent Nikolic,” BBC News, June 1, 2012, www. 2010, http://blog.gmfus.org/2010/07/fifteen-years- donian Number Plates Raise Greek Ire,” Radio bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-18301196 . after-srebrenica-serbia-comes-to-terms-with-its- Free Europe/Radio Liberty, June 26, 2012, www. 40 Milorad Katni ć, “Emerging From the Global past /. rferl.org/content/macedonian-number-plates- Economic Crisis: A View From the Balkans,” 33 Stefan Lehne, “Kosovo and Serbia: Toward a raise-greek-ire/24626570.html . presented at The Johns Hopkins University’s Normal Relationship,” Carnegie Endowment for 37 Alan Cowell and Marlise Simons, “Geno - School of Advanced International Studies, International Peace, March 2012, www.carnegie cide case against Mladic laid out; Victims’ kin Washington, D.C., on April 23, 2012. endowment.org/files/Kosovo_and_Serbia.pdf . face Bosnian Serbs’ ex-commander,” The New 41 “20 Albanian Islamic Radicals Arrested for 34 For background, see Sarah Glazer, “Future York Times , May 17, 2012, www.nytimes. com/ Smilkovci Murders,” Macedonian International of the Euro,” CQ Global Researcher , May 17, 2012/05/18/world/europe/in-trial-of-ratko- mladic - News Agency, May 1, 2012, http://macedonia 2011, pp. 237-262; and Brian Beary, “Future details-of-srebrenica-massacre.html . online.eu/content/view/20906/2 /. of the EU,” CQ Global Researcher , April 17, 38 Dan Bilefsky, “Nationalist Wins Serbian Pres - 42 Gordon was testifying at a hearing entitled 2012, pp. 181-204. idency, Clouding Ties to the West,” The New “The State of Affairs in the Balkans,” Commit - 35 Laj čák was speaking at a conference on York Times , May 20, 2012, www.nytimes. tee on Foreign Affairs, U.S. House of Repre - the Western Balkans, organized by the Cen - com/2012/05/21/world/europe/serbian-presi sentatives , Nov. 15, 2011. ter for Strategic and International Studies, dential-elections.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all . 43 Silber and Little, op. cit. , p. 372. Washington, D.C., on Nov. 22, 2011. 39 “Srebrenica ‘not genocide’ — Serbia’s Presi -

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 397 Bibliography Selected Sources

Books 09/05/as-bosnian-genocide-continues-the-bush-administra tion-looks-away /. Benson , Leslie , Yugoslavia: A Concise History , Palgrave The former U.S. State Department chief of Yugoslav affairs MacMillan , 2004 . explains why he resigned from his post in the early 1990s, A senior lecturer in politics and sociology at University Col - citing the government’s policy of appeasement in the face lege Northampton in the United Kingdom provides an overview of Serb aggression. of the development and disintegration of Yugoslavia. Poggioli , Sylvia , “Two Decades After Siege, Sarajevo Still Blitz , Brad , (ed.), War and Change in the Balkans , Cam - A City Divided,” National Public Radio , April 5, 2012 , bridge , 2006 . www.npr.org/2012/04/05/150009152/two-decades-after- Several authors examine how Yugoslavia disintegrated, the dif - siege-sarajevo-still-a-city-divided . ference between its constituent republics and how the interna - NPR’s senior European correspondent, who covered the tional community has responded to them. Yugoslav wars, reports on life today in Bosnia’s capital, Sarajevo, 20 years after the city’s 44-month siege in which Djokic , Dejan and James Ker-Lindsay , eds., New Perspec - thousands were killed. tives on Yugoslavia: Key Issues and Controversies , Rout - ledge , 2010 . Radovanovic , Radul , “Bosnians mark anniversary with mass A senior lecturer of history at Goldsmiths College, University burial; Massacre victims moved to graves near Srebrenica, ” of London (Djokic), and a senior research fellow in politics at The Associated Press , July 12, 2011 , http://articles.boston. the London School of Economics (Ker-Lindsay) examine the com/2011-07-12/news/29765826_1_srebrenica-massacre- rise and fall of Yugoslavia. government-territory-serb-forces . A reporter describes the 16th anniversary commemorations Glaurdi ć, Josip , The Hour of Europe: Western Powers and of the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica, where Serb forces killed the Breakup of Yugoslavia , Yale University Press , 2011 . some 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys. A junior research fellow in politics at the University of Cambridge studies how Western powers dealt with the Vejvoda , Ivan , “Finishing unfinished business in the breakup of Yugoslavia. Balkans,” German Marshall Fund of the United States , June 3, 2011 , http://blog.gmfus.org/2011/06/finishing- Silber , Laura , and Allan Little , Yugoslavia: Death of a unfinished-business-in-the-balkans /. Nation , Penguin Books , 1997 . The vice president of programs at the German Marshall Fund Two journalists based in the Balkans in the 1990s provide a gives his thoughts on the trials in The Hague of indicted Serbian comprehensive and gripping narrative of Yugoslavia’s breakup. war criminals Ratko Mladi ć and Radovan Karadži ć. Articles Reports and Studies

Jovik , Dejan , “The Disintegration of Yugoslavia: A Critical Bozovic , Danijela , Marko Vujacic and Nikola M. Zivkovic , Review of Explanatory Approaches,” European Journal of “The Future of the European Union Enlargement: the case Social Theory 4(1): 101-120, 2001 . of the Western Balkans,” Center for European Policy/ A politics lecturer at the University of Stirling in Scotland Union of European Federalists Serbia , 2010 , www.uef. summarizes the various arguments used to explain why Yugoslavia rs/materijal/dokumenta/UEF%20Serbia_Future%20of%20 fell apart. the%20European%20Union%20Enlargement_the%20Case %20of%20Western%20Balkans.pdf . Kanin , David B. , “Salience and emotion” TransConflict , Two pro-European Union think tanks analyze the Western May 10, 2012 , www.transconflict.com/2012/05/salience- Balkans’ ongoing efforts to join the union. and-emotion-105 . An adjunct professor of international relations at The Johns Lehne , Stefan , “Kosovo and Serbia: Toward a Normal Re - Hopkins University in Washington suggests how to solve lationship,” Carnegie Endowment for International Peace , contemporary challenges facing the Western Balkans. March 2012 , www.carnegieendowment.org/files/Kosovo_ and_Serbia.pdf . Kenney , George D. , “As Bosnian Genocide Continues, the A visiting scholar at Carnegie Europe in Brussels suggests Bush Administration Looks Away,” The Washington Post , how relations between Serbia and Kosovo can be normal - Sept. 5, 1992 , http://bosniagenocide.wordpress.com/1992/ ized.

398 CQ Global Researcher The Next Step: Additional Articles from Current Periodicals

Bosnia “Serbs’ Rights in Kosovo Continue to Be Violated — Senior Russian Diplomat,” Interfax News Agency (Russia) , Hunt , Swanee G. , and Wesley K. Clark , “Bosnia Still Needs Feb. 28, 2012 . Fixing,” The New York Times , May 4, 2012 , www.nytimes. Kosovars violate the human rights of ethnic Serbs, charges com/2012/05/04/opinion/dayton-ended-the-killing-but- Russian human rights envoy Konstantin Dolgov. bosnia-still-needs-fixing.html . The compromises made by the international community to Carvajal , Doreen , “In Kosovo, Smuggling Fosters Unusual halt the killing in Bosnia now seem inadequate and must Ethnic Cooperation,” The New York Times , Oct. 24, 2011 , be fixed, say a former U.S. ambassador to Austria (Hunt) p. A6 , www.nytimes.com/2011/10/24/world/europe/in-balk and the former Supreme Allied Commander of NATO (Clark). ans-smuggling-forges-a-rare-unity.html?pagewanted=all . Observers say a lucrative oil-smuggling operation in Kosovo Landay , Jonathan S. , “Bosnia Splinters in War’s Wake,” has led to a rare easing of ethnic tensions along the smuggling Chicago Tribune , May 9, 2012 , p. A18 . routes. Nationalist leaders and ethnically segregated schools in Bosnia are reigniting hatreds that triggered a bloody conflict in 1992. North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO)

Vullimay , Ed , “How Bosnia’s Pioneering Footballers Are Geitner , Paul , “NATO Chief Sees Parallels Between Syria Succeeding Where the Politicians Failed,” The Guardian and Balkans,” The New York Times , June 12, 2012 . (England), Nov. 6, 2011 . NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen says the Bosnia’s national soccer team — composed of a multiethnic conflict between the Syrian government and rebel fighters could group of players — has helped ease tensions. degenerate into a war similar to the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

European Union (EU) Integration Palokaj , Augustin , “NATO Has Not Finished Yet Its Job in Kosova and Balkans,” Koha Ditore (Kosovo), May 21, 2012 . “Kosovo Pundits Say Lack of EU Prospects Serious NATO still has much work to do before Kosovo and other Threat to Stability in Balkans,” Koha Ditore (Kosovo), Balkan nations are secure. June 17, 2012 . Experts say nationalistic tendencies in the Balkans likely Srbinovski , Aleksandar , “Great Powers Exercising Nerves will remain until countries are admitted into the EU. Over Balkans,” Nova Makedonija (Macedonia), Feb. 28, 2012 . Macedonia is considering a military alliance with Russia Castle , Stephen , “Serbia, Once Outcast, Is Candidate to rather than NATO in order to avoid pressure to change its Join E.U.,” The New York Times , March 2, 2012 , p. A8 , name. Greece insists Macedonia change its name, which is www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/world/europe/serbia-is- also the name of a region in Greece, before it joins NATO. candidate-for-european-union.html . European Union leaders have agreed that Serbia has made enough progress since the Balkan wars of the 1990s to be - CITING CQ G LOBAL RESEARCHER come a candidate for EU membership. Sample formats for citing these reports in a bibliography Creighton , Lucinda , “Time for EU to Make Good on Its include the ones listed below. Preferred styles and formats Promise to Balkans,” Irish Independent , July 23, 2012 , vary, so please check with your instructor or professor. www.independent.ie/opinion/analysis/lucinda-creighton- time-for-eu-to-make-good-on-its-promise-to-balkans-3175 MLA STYLE 614.html . Flamini, Roland. “Nuclear Proliferation.” CQ Global Re - The challenges facing the Balkan nations are similar to searcher 1 Apr. 2007: 1-24. those other countries faced when they joined the EU. APA S TYLE Kosovo Flamini, R. (2007, April 1). Nuclear proliferation. CQ Global “Kosovo Sentences Ethnic Albanian for War Crime,” DPA Researcher , 1, 1-24. News Agency (Germany) , Oct. 14, 2011 . CHICAGO STYLE A Kosovo court has sentenced a former ethnic Albanian fighter to five years in prison for a war crime committed Flamini, Roland. “Nuclear Proliferation.” CQ Global Researcher , during the 1999 conflict between Yugoslav government forces April 1, 2007, 1-24. and Albanian separatists.

www.globalresearcher.com Aug. 21, 2012 399 Voices From Abroad:

AHMET DAVUTOGLU science, Belgrade change based on the ethnic fragile is the peace and criterion, a domino effect in prosperity we take for grant - Foreign Minister, Turkey University, Serbia the Western Balkans would ed in Western Europe.” be created. When there is a An Albanian Benelux Irish Independent, June 2012 Cultures that bind domino effect, this chain “The idea about a Nordic “Nobody can think about process will not end with - [-style] community in the expelling the population or out violence and suffering. NIGEL CASEY Balkans has been in evi - exiling individuals. The coun - Therefore, the international dence since the fall of the U.K. Ambassador to tries of the Balkans region community is united in op - Berlin Wall. What grates on Bosnia and Herzegovina are not only neighbours who posing the ideas to change one about this new idea is live next door to one an - the borders in the Balkans that this would not be a Politicians bear the re - other: They are families with on an ethnic basis.” close social and cultural links. Balkan Benelux but an Al - sponsibility This region is like a soup banian one, as it would ex - Koha Ditore (Kosovo) “The primary responsibili - [that] will be tasty only if clude Serbia and comprise June 2012 ty for passing the political de - one adds salt and all the Albania and neighbouring cisions in this country [Bosnia other ingredients. If any of territories with sizeable Al - LUCINDA CREIGHTON and Herzegovina] is on its those ingredients is missing, banian populations.” Minister of State for elected politicians, and not on the soup will be bland; this the international community. Vecernje Novosti (Serbia) European Affairs, Ireland It is, certainly, time for the do - is the essence of the im - June 2012 portance of ownership.” mestic leaders to reach an The fragile Balkan peace agreement, which is necessary Dnevni Avaz (Bosnia and BLAGOJA MARKOVSKI “The history, the culture for Bosnia-Herzegovina, so Herzegovina), August 2011 Retired colonel, Macedonia and fragmentation of the as to move forward on the Balkans reflects the very European integration path ZELJKO KOMSIC A potential arms race essence of Europe. It is a and to have the totally nor - Presidency chairman “Changing the military rich and vibrant tapestry of malized relation with the rest presence from a predomi - culture, language and eth - of the world.” Bosnia and Herzegovina nic diversity, while also pro - nantly U.S. one into a pre - Dnevni List (Bosnia and dominantly Russian one — viding us with an uncom - The U.S. is aware Herzegovina), September 2011 if it happens at all — will fortable reminder of how “Our current political sit - not have an impact on the uation is connected only with security of countries in the the struggle to keep various [Balkan] region. The only fear kinds of power, and it has that this move may incite is nothing to do with any kind that the neighboring coun - of rights, or threats to any tries may start the armament ethnic group in Bosnia- race anew, placing them - Herzegovina. One thing is selves at the intersection of certain, the United States is the two global super pow - aware of the chaos that ers, namely, of the United would emerge in the region, States and Russia.” and further, in case of the threat for the territorial in - Nova Makedonija (Macedonia) i tegrity of Bosnia-Herzegovina February 2012 k s t i

and of the risks that come n r with such a situation.” a ERNST REICHEL m o K Nezavisne (Bosnia and Herze - German Ambassador o t s govina), December 2011 i r

Kosovo h C / a i r

PREDRAG SIMIC Falling dominos a g l “Should Kosovo’s borders u Professor of political B