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> UN Tyranny in Bosnia
> by John Laughland > The Spectator > 5/5/01 > > John Laughland reveals that the colonial governors > of the New World Order treat their subject peoples with contempt. > > "If I may say so" - the spectacles were settled > gently but threateningly on the nose as the Morningside accent ground into > its most sadistic high gear - "I have been around long enough to know a > criminal when I see one. I have made it quite clear that the High > Representative will not talk to criminals." Mr. Colin > Munro, a deputy for the UN High Representative in Bosnia and Herzegovina, > was justifying the recent decision by his office to sack two leaders of the > Bosnian Croats from their elected posts, Ante Jelavic and Marko Tokic, and > subsequently to send Sfor troops in to raid a bank used by their political > party. His remarks were in response to my simple question, "What convictions > have you obtained which enable you to call these people criminals?" A > shorter answer > would have been, "None." > > Mr. Munro works for Wolfgang Petritsch, the UN > governor of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 5th April, Mr. Petritsch signed a > "Decision" to appoint a provisional administrator for the Hercegovacka > Banka, whose head office is in Mostar and which has some 30 branches around > Herzegovina. In the early hours of the following morning, before daybreak, > Sfor-Nato troops and police from the > Muslim-Croat federation, wearing black hoods, arrived in tanks and > brandishing guns. They smashed their way through a fence at the back of the > bank, kicked down glass doors, trashed other offices in the same building, > and stamped on two photographs of the Pope. Four people - two policemen and > two civilians - were wounded in the ensuing scuffles. > > Two weeks later, they returned, again in tanks and > helicopters and with guns, to dynamite open the safe and make off with over > DM 1.5 million. Similar military operations were conducted against branches > of the bank all over Herzegovina, > including at the pilgrimage town of Medjugorje, where Nato soldiers were > pelted with eggs by angry Spanish and Portuguese pilgrims outraged at their > brutal tactics. The 90,000 private clients and 4,500 corporate clients of > this bank can no longer access their money and so wages and bills across > Herzegovina are currently going unpaid. Far from turning swords into > ploughshares, it seems, six years of international administration in Bosnia > and Herzegovina have succeeded > only in turning peacekeepers into bank robbers. > > The stated purpose of the raid on the bank was to > root out "corruption" - a convenient catch-all accusation used with gay > abandon these days to get rid of turbulent politicians from Peru to > Indonesia and the Philippines. But this was no ordinary police operation. > The normal procedure when a bank is suspected of handling dirty money is to > freeze the relevant accounts and to apply for the > appropriate seizure orders. It is not to send in tanks to close the bank and > blow up the safe. The suspicion must be that the bank raid was undertaken to > sabotage the finances of the main Croat political party, the Croatian > Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina (HDZ), and also to break the > economic backbone of the Bosnian Croats as a whole, who are a generally > hardworking and fairly prosperous lot. > > The bank raid followed the decision, taken in > March by the High Representative, to dismiss the leaders of the HDZ from > their elected posts, including from the collegiate presidency of Bosnia and > Herzegovina, on the grounds that they were engaged in "anti-Dayton > activities." He also barred them from all future political activity. Their > crime was to have convened a "Croatian National Congress" last November, > with the support of 90% of Bosnian Croats who believe that such a Congress > is better equipped to defend their interests than the UN High > Representative. This followed a long period of deteriorating relations > between the Croats and the UN in Bosnia and Herzegovina, who feel that their > national rights are being weakened by new electoral laws and other > constitutional changes, introduced by the UN and designed to blend Bosnia's > constituent > peoples into one. > > Mr. Petritsch's fury at this semi-declaration of > independence by the Croats knew no bounds. The New World Order has one > simply rule - you must obey orders - and so exemplary punishment had to be > meted out to the disobedient Croats. > He and his staff gaily lambasted the Croat leaders as "criminals" and > "extremists", even though no convictions have been obtained against them, > while Mr. Petritsch personally accused the Catholic Bishop of Mostar of > spreading hatred and supporting war criminals. Bosnia's international > administrators evidently have no understanding of one the most basic > principles of Western political civilisation, the presumption of innocence, > and little sense of the responsibility incumbent on them as important public > figures not to make > inflammatory statements which may be prejudicial to any future trial. > > Instead, the powers now vested in the UN > administrator of Bosnia and Herzegovina are as close to pure tyranny as > anything which has existed in recent European history. The decisions of the > UN High Representative are neither democratically legitimised nor subject to > the rule of law. Sniggering admissions > that Bosnia and Herzegovina is in reality "a protectorate" fail to capture > the sheer lawlessness of the UN's power there, which goes way beyond the > powers enjoyed, say, by a British colonial official in the last century. For > instance, Mr. Petritsch's "Decision" authorising the bank raid specifically > provides legal immunity from prosecution to the police and soldiers who > carried it out. It also allows his appointee to close the bank or sell it > off at will - possible even to > banks (Hercegovacka Banka is the only bank in Bosnia and Herzegovina that is > not under Austrian owenership). Furthermore, the Decision itself rests on a > reading of the powers laid down in Dayton which quite literally admits of no > limitation. Finally, an appeal lodged with the Constitutional Court of > Bosnia and Herzegovina against Petritsch's decision to cancel the outcome of > last November's elections was dismissed on the simple ground that his > decisions are > not subject to judicial review by that or any other Court. > > Ever since the Dayton accords were signed in 1995, > Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a laboratory for the New World Order's ideal > of post-national politics and multiculturalism. As in the European Union, > the underlying philosophical presupposition is that nationalism leads to war > and that therefore nationhood > must be dissolved. Consequently, the High Representative has repeatedly > cancelled the outcome of elections in recent years because the wrong people > - "nationalists" - had won. The attack is on the Croats now and it has been > on the Serbs in the past. But it cannot be long before even the Muslims get > a taste of the same medicine. Like the Ottoman empire which it has replaced, > the Nato empire in the Balkans has contempt for all its subject peoples in > equal measure. > > The final irony is this. It is a striking fact > that the crack troops of the New World Order very often do not generally > come from countries like Austria which have domestic experiences of > dictatorship. Instead, many of the principal officials of the International > Criminal Tribunal at the Hague, the leading decision-makers in the > Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), and - as in Mr. > Munro's case - the main henchmen for the UN regime in Bosnia and Herzegovina > are citizens of English-speaking countries. > > Something happens to these assorted Britons, > Americans, Canadians and Australians when they become officials of > international organisations. Like semi-reformed alcoholics let loose in a > gin shop, they seem unable to control themselves if not subject to the > strictures of their own political culture. Perhaps > they are just living out some strange private power-fantasies. Or perhaps, > instead, people like our own Mr. Munro are just getting valuable job > experience for their future role, which cannot be too far off, as > administrators of a genuinely post-national European Union - based on the > highly successful Bosnian model, of course. > ____________________________________ |
