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of the Belgrade Coup
Editor & Webmaster
Leon Chame - 2008
Yugoslav Associates:
- Zoran Radojicic
- Dejan Vukelic
- George Orwell
Contributing Websites:
- Original Sorces
- Transnational (TFF)
- Fair sources
- WSWS
avgust 20, 2008
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What Will Refusing to Rebuild Bombed Infrastructure in Serbia Do to Its
Neighbors?
By Mary Mostert, Analyst, Original Sources, June 10, 1999
An amendment introduced by Sen. Judd Gregg of New Hampshire to S 1122 a $30 billion
Defense appropriations bill and passed Tuesday states that " None of the funds made available in the 1999 Emergency
Supplemental Appropriations Act (Public Law 106-31) for emergency support of refugees and
displaced persons and the local communities directly affected by the influx of refugees
may be made available to implement a long-term, regional program of development or
reconstruction in Southeastern Europe except pursuant to specific statutory authorization
enacted on or after the date of enactment of this Act."
The purpose of the amendment, according to Sen. Gregg, was to prohibit use of funds in
the bill for humanitarian purposes to make sure the funds "will be limited in their application so they cannot be used for
long-term structural reform of the economy or the capital needs of Kosovo, without the
President coming to Congress and requesting those funds be used in that way and without
him putting forward a strategic plan which reflects how much it is going to cost us as a
nation to reconstruct the Kosovo infrastructure. Until we receive that plan and it is
approved by the Congress, these funds would not be made available for that sort of effort."
Of course, what is not being discussed or even mentioned by the electronic media is
that the economy of Kosovo is very dependent upon the economy of Serbia. In fact, the economy of the entire Balkans will not flourish
without Serbia's economy flourishing.
The External Affairs Department of the World Bank, (http://www.worldbank.org/news) in a
report entitled " Kosovo war devastates trade
for Balkan neighbors" observed that the damage done by NATO bombing to vital
transportation routes in Yugoslavia were creating a major economic problem for the entire
Balkan Peninsula. It noted: "The Kosovo conflict has dramatically limited vital transportation routes in the
Balkan peninsula, and the cost of the region's economic recovery is likely to surpass $50
billion, the Journal of Commerce (p.7A) reports. According to estimates by the World Bank,
the situation is potentially very serious for Albania, considered by many to be
politically fragile.
"The World Bank says the economic impact on Macedonia, a landlocked nation of 2
million, has been severe. The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia accounted for 20 percent of
Macedonia's exports, and 12 percent of its imports; more than 50 percent of Macedonia's
trade traditionally passes through Yugoslavia.
"The World Bank said the conflict has also hurt Romania, which also uses
Yugoslavia as a transport conduit, the story adds.
"The news comes as the OECD says in its latest report that the Kosovo crisis is
already demonstrating its impact on the economies of Yugoslavia's neighbors, the Wall
Street Journal Europe (p.9) reports. In Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the former
Yugoslav republic of Macedonia, Croatia, and Bulgaria, GDP could decrease by as much as
five percent this year, the OECD said, citing a recent estimate by the World Bank and the
IMF. That estimate said an additional $1.5 billion in foreign funding would be needed this
year for those five countries, in addition to Romania."
Today's London Telegraph reports that "Ministers from Europe, America, Russia and
Japan were last night finalizing details for what is being called the 'Marshall Plan for
the Balkans'. It will be the most ambitious package of reconstruction seen on the
continent since America rebuilt it under the European Recovery Programme devised by
secretary of state George Marshall in the aftermath of the Second World War. "This
afternoon, at an extraordinary congress being held in Cologne, 36 countries and a dozen
international institutions come together to launch a stability pact which aims to bring
peace, development and democracy to Europe's neglected south-eastern corner, the source of
so much bloodshed and instability since 1989. Sums
of the order of £5 billion a year are being talked of for the region for many years to
come, German sources say."
So, while the World Bank believes that the cost of NATO's cavalier destruction of
Yugoslavia's infrastructure - bridges over the Danube, roads, oil refineries needed for
gasoline, etc, is about $50 billion, the "ministers" are talking about $5
billion a year, and the Yugoslavs are putting the cost of rebuilding their wrecked nation
at $100 billion. However, the World Bank noted: "But
critics note that not a penny has actually been pledged." In fact, because of Sen.
Judd's amendment to S 1122, none of THAT $30+ Billion will be used to rebuild in the
Balkans. "America is reluctant to pay," the report said, "and the European
Union, on whom the burden will fall, is strapped for cash, its largest member, Germany
already grappling with a spiraling budget deficit. As
ever, the nations involved have so far been more interested in setting up committees than
in digging into their pockets.
"Under the chairmanship of Germany, which currently leads the G8 group of
industrialised nations, a detailed blueprint for the pact will be adopted by the assembled
ministers. Britain is a strong supporter of the plan, which was originally proposed in
April, while the bombing of Yugoslavia was at its height.
"The pact aims first to redress the economic damage the war has brought to
Serbia's neighbours, and secondly to help ensure increased prosperity in the hope that
this will reduce the danger of further instability in the region. It will cost billions of
pounds, and run for many years, though none of the figures has yet been firmly
established. German sources say that the money
involved will be of the order of £3-5 billion a year. Beneficiaries of the pact, which
senior British ministers admit will have to be largely paid for by the EU, will be all of
Yugoslavia's neighbours: Albania, Macedonia, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania
and Bulgaria.
"Excluded will be Serbia itself. Senior British officials underline that until
Slobodan Milosevic is gone, it is highly unlikely that any significant amount of western
money will go to the state he presides over, though Serbia's sister Yugoslav republic,
Montenegro, could well be eligible.
America and Britain are thought to be pushing to have this toughened up. However,
senior officials recognize that it will probably be necessary to provide a bare minimum of
aid to Serbia, for strictly humanitarian reasons. "Help will have to be given towards repairing bombed power
stations, since otherwise the Yugoslav people, with whom Nato says it has no quarrel,
will face a grim Balkan winter. And the Danube will have to be
cleared of the obstructions to shipping caused by the bridges that Nato bombs have brought
crashing into the river. They affect not only Yugoslavia but Bulgaria and Romania too.
"Also not included in the aid programme is Kosovo itself. Until Nato forces enter
the province, it is impossible to assess what its needs will be, and a separate
"pledging conference" for Kosovo will have to be held in a few months' time. The
immediate needs of returning refugees will be met out of existing humanitarian and
emergency budgets.
"The stability pact will be administered by a co-ordinator, likely to be a former
leader of Austria's conservative People's Party, Erhard Busek, and will be charged not
only with overseeing economic aid to the Balkans, but also with democratization, human
rights and security issues."
Democratization? The man that the European Union,
NATO and Bill Clinton wants to force out of office, Slobodan Milosevic, was ELECTED, for
heavens sake! That's a whole
lot more than we can say for Hashim Thaci, leader of the KLA which
plans to be the force, the government for Kosovo just as soon as they can get rid of the
Serbs and the UN Peacekeeping force.
The last minute agreement among the military indicated that the Serbs refusal to act
the part of a conquered army is beginning to grate on the nerves of NATO spokesmen . However, the determined position of the
Serbs to bring the United Nations back into the discussions, which was what they wanted in the first place at Rambouillet, and an end to the bombing before they withdrew HAS been agreed
to. That is not the way it is being reported by CNN and others whose
idea of reporting is parroting official statements of NATO or the White House. However,
last night NATO did not bomb for the first time in 77 days. NATO was very upset because
the Serbs, they claim, have not started withdrawing. A Serb general in effect told Gen.
Jackson to keep his shirt on, that he was moving out at 12:00 local time.
It appears to me that NATO and Clinton are trying desperately to make a defeat look
like a victory. Billions of dollars of Western money is going to
have to be found to take care of the humanitarian disaster caused by the bombing. Each time NATO intensified the bombing, more refugees found their
way out of Kosovo to the Refugee camps, which are being financed by
NATO countries.
All the bluster about not helping Serbia is probably just that. Those bridges across
the Danube HAVE to be rebuilt because if they aren't, Bulgaria and Romania have some
serious problems. The electrical system and communications systems HAVE to be rebuilt in
order for the other Balkan nations to rebuild THEIR economy - which is closely intertwined
with Yugoslavia's economy.
However, passing legislation in Washington designed to force the Serbs to "get
rid" of Milosevic sounds tough and will deceive a lot of people into thinking that
somehow Clinton won his war.
Of course, to pay for it, we'll have to spend the Social Security surplus and that will
mean that, in the end, probably the baby boomers will find that they aren't going to be
able to retire as early as they hoped. They'll have a few more working years to think
about the wisdom of having blindly supported Bill Clinton for two elections. I think these
last 77 days have cured the Serbs of any support or love for America.
Perhaps the Americans Should INSIST the Serbs KEEP Milosevic, if they Really Want Him
Ousted?
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