America's Flip-flop in Yugoslavia!
In 1914 WWI broke out - the Austrian Empire invaded Serbia. President Woodrow Wilson praised the bravery of the Serbs, and America entered the war on the side of the Serbia. 115 000 American servicemen lost their lives. In 1918, after the war, Yugoslavia was established with America's blessings with Kosovo in its boundaries. Yugoslavia was a union of kindred nations. It was not the only one. Several nations were united or their statehood established as a result of the war: Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania. It was a continuation of the trend started with the unification of Germany and Italy in the previous century. Even the independence of Ireland, India, decolonization and the establishment of Israel can be considered a continuation of this
But the unification of Yugoslavia soon ran into opposition in Croatia, where the terrorist organization Ustasha was established. In 1934 they assassinated King Alexander of Yugoslavia at Marseille. When the Nazis invaded Yugoslavia they broke it up and put Ustasha in charge of Croatia. Ustasha distinguished itself by its cruelty and ruthlessness. But there were two resistance movements in Yugoslavia: the Chetniks under Dragoljub Mihajlovic and Tito's partisans. While the partisans were Communists they were somewhat of an exception. Firstly, they defended their own country where the German Nazis had no business intruding. Secondly, they upheld the Yugoslav idea. They were sworn enemies of Ustasha. After the war, Tito (dubbed "bloody dog" by Stalin) maintained its independence from the Soviet Union. Yugoslavia had the most liberal version of Communism and prided itself on promoting the cultural development of all its ethnic minorities. In the meantime, during the war Alija Izetbegovic joined the pro-Nazi organization Young Muslims. After WWII Ustasha continued its terrorist activities.
Come 1990, the TV told us that Slobodan Milosevic, the head of the party that lead the resistance against Hitler, was the real Hitler. Alija Izetbegovic and the Croatian ultra-nationalists were the good guys. The U.S. (with prompting from Germany) broke up Yugoslavia. As a result substantial Serbian enclaves appeared in the Croatian and Bosnian territories. The Serbian inhabitants of those enclaves suddenly found themselves in a new country separated from their kins in Serbia. Nobody asked their consent. They found themselves in countries run by Alija Izetbegovic and the Croatian ultra-nationalists. The memories of what happened to them in WWII were still vivid in their minds. They resisted. But we were told the Serbs fought in order to commit genocide.Why did America switch sides? There are several reasons.
* America is not able to stop fighting the Cold War. Russia is still the enemy. For example we have been told that Russia must "continue reforms." (What reforms and why must Russia continue them? How are those reforms any of our business?) The Serbs were "eastern" and friends of Russia - bad guys, the Croats and Bosniaks were "western" so the must be the good guys. Another legacy of the Cold War were alliances with Moslem states such as Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Pakistan. Even the Taliban was America's friend at one point. All these supported the Bosniaks and the Albanians. The U.S. wanted to maintain these alliances and decided to sacrifice Serbia. It was a misguided act of political expediency presented as the good against evil.
* Ultra-simplistic ideology. The free market is conflated with morality, God, patriotism, democracy etc. Astonishingly one of the objectives of NATO is to defend the free market. (Nothing wrong with the free market except conflating it with concepts that have nothing to do with it. The idea that the economic system determines the political system is of Marxist origin.) Similarly: Western is good, Eastern Europe is bad. Many people cannot see beyond these simplistic formulas. Without them they are not able to navigate the political landscape. They have literally lost handle on the situation.
* The Ustashist/Albanian propaganda tapped into this confusion. Through public relation firms and through their influence in the Republican Party they fomented an anti-Serbian demonization campaign of ever-increasing frenzy.
* Obsession with "credibility." This is the mentality of the street gangs, which fight each other for reputation, i.e. reputation for force and ruthlessness. It is a manifestation of corruption by power. We won the cold war (actually it was the Russians who overthrew Communism) and we are on a victory march (the Indian officials called it "triumphalism.") For example Madeleine Albright must have known exactly what was happening in Yugoslavia, nevertheless she chose the path of the ultimate war crime.
The injustice perpetrated on the Serbs is blatant!
Any attempt to set the record straight is described as Serbian propaganda. Once accused of being Adolph Hitler you cannot deny the accusation because nobody should believe Adolph Hitler. That is the circular logic. So are we supposed to live with falsified history from now on? Thus far we have seen this only in totalitarian states. The United States spreads human rights by bombs all over the world. What about the rights of the falsely accused?!
It appears that if one has access to politicians and the monopolized media, sufficient means to purchase public relations firms, and thus can blast the airwaves with propaganda and disinformation, then one can mislead the public and get away with murder. Is this how democracy is supposed to function? Are these the "western values" that we will bestow upon the rest of the world? This is democracy in its death throes!
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