Overseas
Imperialist aggression in the Balkan Peninsula

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To eliminate all obstacles to establishing their hegemony over the Balkan Peninsula, imperialist warmongers led by the United States have launched a massive airstrike, dropping bombs and missiles over Yugoslavia and its 10 million people since the last week of March. The US and its coconspirators in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization or NATO (whose members include Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Canada and other countries) have squandered billions of dollars in an effort to overpower the Yugoslav government and force the entry of imperialist occupation troops.

The missiles and bombs being dropped by the US-led NATO target not only the Yugoslav military machinery and structure, but even civilian infrastructure especially in Belgrade, its national capital. Strategic industries and power plants have also been targeted prior to the economic blockade presently being enforced against Yugoslavia. Because of the attacks against Yugoslavia, especially in its province of Kosovo, hundreds of thousands have already been displaced from their hometowns. Hundreds of Serbs and Kosovars have also been killed by the USled NATO bombing.

The Balkan Peninsula

The Balkan Peninsula is located in the southern part of Europe. Comprising it are the countries of Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Macedonia, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (composed of Serbia and Montenegro), Albania, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria and the European portion of Turkey. To its west lies the Adriatic Sea; to its south lies the Mediterranean Sea; and to its east are the Aegean and Black Seas. Subjugating the Balkans is a strategic question for the imperialists. Asia and Europe converge at the Balkans. The only land route from the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea towards the Mediterranean Sea passes through the Balkans.

The Mediterranean Sea serves as the sea route for commodities being transported to other parts of Europe and to North America. The imperialists are also vying for control of the Black and Caspian Seas because of the rich oil deposits found there. For any imperialist power, the Balkans are also strategic for the effective and rapid deployment of attack forces to the Middle East, Central Asia including Russia and towards the center of Europe and even to Africa.

For hundreds of years, imperialist powers in Europe have contested the Balkan Peninsula. At present, Germany and the United States are the most interested in conquering the region. By establishing its power over the peninsula, Germany could open the shortest route towards the Middle East and its rich oil deposits. The US is also particularly interested in controlling the Balkans to extend its series of military bases from the Middle East (Kuwait and Saudi Arabia), Turkey, Italy and Greece towards the heart of continental Europe which is under the power of the German imperialists.

But the people of the Balkan Peninsula are not easily cowed by imperialist aggression. They have a rich history of waging revolutionary liberation struggles. Most of the countries in the Balkans were born out of the struggles for freedom from the Ottoman Empire in the late 19th century. During World War II, Yugoslav and Albanian guerrilla fighters and partisans repulsed hundreds of thousands of imperialist aggression troops from Germany and Italy. On the basis of these victories, the sovereign democratic governments of Yugoslavia and Albania were established. In 1945, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia composed of Slovenia, Bosnia- Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro and Macedonia was formed.

Under the renegade Josep Broz Tito, however, Yugoslavia turned revisionist and restored capitalism since the 1950s. Tito subsumed the country�s economy to the world capitalist system and allowed the imperialists, especially US imperialism, to penetrate and dominate Yugoslavia.

Imperialist intervention in the �90s

US and German imperialism instigated the disintegration of the Yugoslav federation in order to divide the people and easily subject the region to the dictates and interests of the imperialists. In collaboration with the two imperialist powers, the local ruling classes stirred up reactionary nationalism, ethnicism and conflict in the region. They fanned the flames of fascism. The imperialists imposed economic sanctions to catalyze Yugoslavia�s implosion.

Since 1990, US and German imperialists have actively goaded, funded and armed the local reactionary classes of Slovenia, Bosnia, Croatia, Macedonia and other countries to revolt, break away from and fight Serbia. The lumpen bourgeoisie and criminal syndicates usurped the leadership of the military and bureaucracy and employed the state machinery to deceive the people and foment ethnic conflict.

This resulted in fierce ethnic wars that led to the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives and caused great devastation in Croatia (1991-92) and Bosnia-Herzegovina (1992-95). Millions more from different ethnic and religious groups were displaced from their hometowns and sources of livelihood. The countries formerly comprising the Yugoslav federation successively declared autonomy until only Serbia and Montenegro remained.

The breakup of Yugoslavia is to the interest of imperialism as it shattered Serb dominance over the Balkans. While collaborating with the imperialists for many years, the Serb reactionary bourgeoisie have pursued their ultra-national interests against other ethnic groups in the Balkans. Industrial production had been concentrated in Belgrade while other countries comprising the former Yugoslavia remained backward and dependent on Serb commodities. To protect its interests over the Balkans, the Serb reactionary classes have opposed imperialist intervention in the region.

Since 1997, imperialism has fuelled the rise of Albanian nationalism in Kosovo, a southern province of Serbia bordering Macedonia and Albania. Unlike other regions of Serbia, majority of the people of Kosovo are ethnic Albanians.

US and German imperialists have exploited the legitimate interests of the Kosovars against Serb domination in order to rationalize the dropping of bombs and missiles in Yugoslavia. The two imperialists have been clandestinely funding, arming and training the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA). The KLA is being prodded to intensify the ethnic conflict in Kosovo and thereby worsen the internal crisis of Yugoslavia.

After igniting chaos in Kosovo, the US and NATO intend to put Kosovo under US �protection� and wrench it from Yugoslavia. They have already prepared a package of loans a la Marshall Plan to �rehabilitate� the Kosovar economy under US imperialism.

Now into its fifth week, the bombing of Yugoslavia aims to overthrow the ultra-nationalist and fascist Serb government of Slobodan Milosevi�, break the back of the opposition to imperialist domination in the Balkans and deploy imperialist troops inside Kosovo and Yugoslavia.

04 March 1999
English Edition

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