KOSOVO: A SAVAGE ASSASSINATION ROCKS THE BALKANS

Oliver Ivanović

Serbian community leader in NATO occupied Kosovo, Oliver Ivanović, was gunned down, mafia-style, in front of his party offices in the town of Kosovska Mitrovica on January 16.

As the old Romans used to say, de mortuis nil nisi bonum, of the dead, speak no evil. Mr. Ivanović did nothing that anyone is aware of to merit such a ghastly fate. But it would also be a mistake to regard him as the Ghandi or Mandela of Kosovo's Serbs. He was a career politician, with everything that encompasses, including rumors of shady deals on the side. Curiously, his profile was that of a "moderate" and "cooperative" local politician. For that, he was rewarded by Pristina authorities not with a medal but a war crimes indictment so preposterous (the obligatory bevy of false witnesses included) that even their own Supreme Court was compelled to throw the conviction out.

But what matters here is that Ivanović was a symbolic "high value target", to use the terminology favored by those who are probably behind his murder. The "lone gunman," to again borrow an expression from their lexicon, will probably never be apprehended. At most, some patsy will be convicted of the gangland crime, just for form's sake.

Ivanović's assassination was a classical Tavistock Institute production and it fits in perfectly with the current drive to achieve the recomposition of the political leadership in the Balkans. We saw that process start last year in Macedonia with the installation of the lackey, Zaev. In anticipation of the re-opening of the Eastern Front, the Balkan rear must be secured. Recalcitrants must be replaced by the obedient, and the obedient must give way to the even more servile. The shots which killed Ivanović were a warning to all the Balkan puppets and clowns of what could happen to any of them in broad daylight, if they as much as entertain in passing the thought of diverging from the party line. "All the usual suspects" have been busy indeed, but also meticulous to warn US citizens to stay away from Serbia and Kosovo, citing "safety concerns". The purely coincidental warning was issued just three days before the successful assassination.

It is interesting that William Walker, of El Salvador death squad fame who later engineered the phony Račak incident which served as the pretext for the bombing of Yugoslavia and eventually the occupation of Kosovo, known as a fervent booster of the sordid entity he helped hatch, a few days ago refused -- just like that, refused -- to accept a decoration for his past devotion from the hand of Kosovo's current President. The President that Walker helped put in office would be wise to remember Kissinger's classical adage. He should pay worried attention to Walker's discourteous but portentous gesture. Does Walker know something about the fate reserved for the Kosovo Albanian leadership that they themselves do not? Perhaps, time will tell.

As for the background of this murder plot, it would be foolish to suspect the Albanians, though they obviously are being set up collectively as the patsies. The cui bono analysis tells us plainly that with official recognition of their secessionist enterprise now within grasp, they had nothing to gain and much to lose from such a destabilizing outrage. The overall purpose of the assassination was not to advance the Albanian agenda but to execute a psy-op which sets the stage for renewed managed conflict, should the decision be taken to go that route. And, just as importantly, it is to fire a shot that would be heard throughout the Balkans: lethal for the unfortunate target that was selected, but a robust warning to all the other local chieftains.

The suspension by Serbia of participation in the fabled "Brussels process," in reality the mandated incremental divestment by Serbia of its cultural heartland, supposedly triggered by the assassination, was no more than political rhetoric and grandstanding. Politicians perform such maneouvers routinely in similar situations, to create the appearance of minding the national interest. Things will soon return to normal, as the impression left by the murder dissipates and the incident ceases to be front page news. (In fact, they already have. European Commission spokesperson Maja Kocijancic announced triumphantly on Thursday, January 18, while Ivanović's body must still have been warm, that Serbia's acommodationist -- some would say, quisling -- President was ready to resume talks with KLA gang in Prishtina. The period of morning lasted barely more than five seconds.) So Serbia's simulated withdrawal from the talks was not a serious obstacle to the pursuit of its imbecilic political elite's "cherished dream" to be accepted by the EU, above all because these are not dreams, but orders from above which must be carried out. That, plus breaking ties with Russia, plus NATO membership, is why their services were hired in the first place and why they were installed in power, in various, progressively worse incarnations, in the year 2000. They must perform as instructed, and to understand their predicament it is sufficient, once again, to recall  the pedagogical nature of this assassination, as explained above.

A safe bet can be made that after the killing there will be no stiff requirements for the Albanian side to comply with in order to resume the talks; that will simply happen when the public are distracted by something else. Everything will soon return to "normal" in Brussels because those who are conducting this process on the Serbian side have made a Faustian deal and painted themselves into a corner. They have no way out of it but to continue to tread the path of ignominy.

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he writing is clearly on the wall. Brussels expects Serbia to disengage from Kosovo and to sign off on it because that is the only way to secure and legalize NATO's land and base grab in 1999. It is entirely up to Serbia's leaders to invent the formula according to which the assigned job will be done. All past brave official declarations (including that Kosovo is part of Serbia forever) are subject to revision and change by politicians facing the necessity of ensuring their own survival. Their instructions are to find a creative way to do it and to get the job done!

It will be a vain endeavor to expect of the EU, or any of the Western "partners" beyond the ocean, in the wake of the assassination, to make a show of even-handedness and exert pressure on the Prishtina authorities to negotiate constructively with Belgrade. There is no past history of putting pressure on Kosovo, so the question is essentially what pressure will be put on Serbia.

Condolences will be accompanied by not so subtle threats, such as denial of EU membership prospects unless Serbia rejoins the negotiations. To a normal and responsible leadership, of course, that would not be a threat at all but rather a welcome pretext to drop the EU charade altogether and to geopolitically reorient itself in a rapidly changing world. But, unfortunately, all of Serbia's geopolitical eggs are in the EU basket. As a result, Serbia is in the absurd position of being blackmailed to abandon its historically most important territory, not to mention loyal citizens of all ethnic groups and religions living there, for the sake of joining a moribund European Union. Of course, even if the EU did amount to something Serbia is being asked to sacrifice its heritage for the privilege of becoming a dumping ground for EU trash and a source of dirt-cheap labor for its corporations. A bad deal, no matter how you look at it.

The frightening thing is that the spiritual assassination of the Serbian people -- because without its cultural cradle of Kosovo the nation is truly reduced to a zombified corpse -- is being conducted without its input, awareness, or implicit, much less overt, consent. Of course, as in most contemporary "democracies", the public's consent for the resumption of the Kosovo talks, or for anything else of consequence for that matter, is entirely unnecessary. Especially with an undemanding public, such as Serbia's, which practices the manners of all well-bred children, who were raised to be seen, but not heard.

Kosovo will not be asked to fulfill any conditions beyond conducting a cosmetic investigation of the murder which will yield no tangible results. Pressure, however, will be on Serbia to disregard the outrage as quickly as possible and go back to "business as usual."