Serbia Scrapes NATO
Of Course Washington Loves Ahtisaari Plan
Serbia’s Democratic Party spokesman Andreja Mladenovic said Thursday that the implementation of Annex 11 of Martti Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo and Metohija would “indeed represent the best solution for the United States.”
“The formation of the first NATO state on the basis of Ahtisaari plan is really the best solution for America,” Mladenovic told Tanjug in reaction to a statement by the new US amabssador to Serbia, Cameron Phelps Munter.
Speaking in Kostolac on Thursday, Munter reiterated the official US stand that, unless progress in the talks on the status of Kosmet is made by Dec 10, supervised independence for that province is the best solution, as he said, “for America, Europe and Serbia.”
It sure is comforting to know Uncle Sam knows what’s best for Serbia better than Serbia does. The only snag is that Serbia seems determined to follow its own hunches.
Foreign Minister: Serbia Will Never Forget the 1999 NATO Aggression
Therefore, when Serbian Foreign Minister met with NATO heads in Brussels a week ago, presenting a document listing Serbia’s goals in the Partnership for Peace, the earlier formulation which included eventual NATO membership as Serbia’s goal, has been removed from the document.
The government is said to have adopted the document unanimously, with the cabinet agreeing on the wording in a phone conference, sources have confirmed. They added “any parts suggesting Serbia may wish to become a NATO member in the future were removed from the paper, placing focus on regional cooperation and a compromise solution for Kosovo.”
As regards North-Atlantic military alliance, Serbia’s official presentation document excludes NATO membership, suggesting only cooperation with the Alliance.
According to the Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremic, who comes from President Boris Tadic’s Party (DS), with its presentation document Serbia “clearly demonstrated that it unequivocally believes in a strategy of intensive regional security cooperation,” stating in detail the cooperation sectors it wishes to pursue within the PfP (to which Serbia was officially accepted in December 2006).
“Serbia will never be able to forget the tragic events of 1999,” Jeremic told his NATO interlocutors, however adding that the country must “look forward, not backward.”
After Premier Vojislav Kostunica called on the Serbian media to publish Annex 11 of Martti Ahtisaari plan, opening a public debate on NATO role in Serbian province, the military analysts gave their assessment.
Military Analysts: Annex 11 Introduces Military Rule in Serbian Province
“Annex 11 of the draft plan for the solution of the status of Kosovo and Metohija proposed by former UN envoy Martti Ahtisaari essentially calls for the introduction of military rule in Serbia’s southern province,” military analysts told Tanjug.
“Furthermore, the imposing of military rule exists only in regimes where a coup has been carried out, and Annex 11 is also contrary to international law,” Milan Mijalkovski and Ninoslav Krstic said, while Zoran Dragisic and Vladan Zivulovic said that it is good that Ahtisaari plan has been rejected.
Annex 11 regulates the powers of the international military force in the province, giving them responsibility for guaranteeing security in Kosovo from outside threats until the Kosovo institutions take over.
Prime Minister Kostunica told a press conference on Thursday that it is unusual for military rule to supersede civilian government, especially for an indefinite period, as stated in Annex 11 of Ahtisaari plan for Kosovo and Metohija.
“The acceptance of Ahtisaari plan would open up the possibility for those who are powerful and have strong armed forces to violate the international law and regulations and to practically create military bases in certain territories,” said Mijalkovski who is a professor at the Faculty for Security.
Retired army general Ninoslav Krstic, who chairs the Forum for Security and Democracy, said that Annex 11 “essentially means military rule in Kosovo and Metohija.”
“I would not presume to say whether that is a NATO state or not, but if it is in power, then that would represent NATO military rule in Kosovo and Metohija at the very least, because such states do not exist anywhere in the world,” Krstic stated.
Russian Expert: West Pursuing Seizure of Kosovo Province for American Geostrategic Reasons
The discussion was joined by the Vice President of the Foreign Affairs Board of Russian Duma, Natalia Narochnitzka, who said that Serbian politicians’ claims that NATO wants to create its own state in Kosovo province, even though metaphorical, are essentially correct.
“Kosovo province is one of the few natural lowlands in the Balkans where the tanks can be deployed and from where it is easy to reach ThessalonÃki, the Aegean Sea and straits,” said Russian historian in a Tanjug interview.
Reminding that the Balkan Front had great significance way back, starting with the First World War, Narochnitzka said that in the case NATO bases were created in the region there would be no need to take the sea route around Peloponnese — there’s the Aegean Sea and channels and straits. “And straits, nowadays as 300 years ago, play an important role, serving as passages for oil transport,” said Narochnitzka.
According to the Russian Duma official, “the Anglo-Saxons are not pursuing that course by chance,” since that particular part of the Southeastern Europe, with the Adriatic coasts is “circling the gigantic ellipse” of regions and their resources, from Turkey, Ukraine, Georgia and Azerbaijan, to Afghanistan and Pakistan, with Indian Ocean.
Reminding of the start of expansion of NATO alliance in the 1990s, when the motto was “expansion or death,” the Russian expert said that the alliance’s expansion does not have only the anti-Russian, but also an anti-European aspect. “The expansion serves to control and ‘atlantize’ the European process,” she said.