Peace is breaking out all over, in Macedonia, so they say! Some may call it an armistice. Others, a meeting and agreement of warring factions, still others, a halt to hostilities or a silencing of weapons. This is certainly like no peace that I have ever seen in the past. How is this different, one may ask, peace is peace, isn’t it? A truce, or an armistice, means that military operations, focused on destroying the adversary, come to an end. Not, however, in the razor thin veneer of the unqualified and heretofore unsubstantiated tranquillity that prevails in Macedonia. Macedonia, and NATO’s misinterpretation of the tactical situation on the ground, may well serve to redefine “Peace Treaty” forever.
As British soldiers flew into Macedonia, this past weekend, they were carefully warned that they could be drawn, quite easily, into the festering sore that the world knows as war in Macedonia. As if we, the common observer, are foundering about lost in the bliss of our own ignorance, waiting for someone to explain the meaning of! peace. That is what faces Great Britain’s soldiers, with their NATO co-conspirators, in the latest human rot of the Balkans. Military leaders can “warn” all they want, however the world is not buying the “topsy-turvey” delusional belief of NATO, that they are going home in a month, after collecting the “rebel” weapons. As well, that peace has come to Macedonia.
Glitches are appearing everywhere. This, in spite of NATO’s apparently stoic belief that the Albanian Rebels, and the Macedonian forces, will soon be sipping Chardonnay, sharing Brie’, and hot-tubbing together. In essence, steadfastly applying themselves at letting by-gones, be by-gones.
However, dear NATO, things are a bit rocky! For example, Macedonian fighter bombers have targeted and leveled ethnic Albanian villages, under the cloak of peace, just this past weekend. The CIA’s renegade Albanian Rebels, many from the New York City area, have launched routine infantry assa!ults and the “usual” kidnappings, rapes, and unique sport of carving their initials in people’s backs, and other areas of anatomy.
Those, with whom I have personally spoken, and observed, simply attribute this phase of the war as “rest and recuperation” time. As well as time to reposition the forces, get rid of the old weapons, and get their hands on the new armament that is flowing in via the smuggling routes from Kosovo, which U. S. soldiers are “sort-of” patrolling.
One contact of mine, a UCK Commander, asked me to thank NATO for the Intelligence support they have received via the constant helicopter incursions, into Macedonian air space. As well, appreciation was expressed for the mortars and rocket launchers that NATO delivered, on the high ground around Skopje last month, via a helicopter insertion. This was within a couple of kilometers of the Presidential Residence in Skopje.
Further evidence of the bliss of tranquillity was evid!ent in Tetovo this past weekend. It is here where Albanian and Macedonian disenchantment has often resulted in death.
In Tetovo, there are indicators everywhere that strength, and a position of superiority, is defined by who shoots first and who shoots the straightest. One could see sharpshooters and snipers, lounging about, in barricaded positions in the taller buildings. Rugged, tired, and hair-trigger infantrymen of the UCK strolled challengingly through the streets, armed to the teeth. Young children, with home-fashioned assault rifle, “look-alikes”, and red bandannas adorning their small heads, paid idol-like deference to the adult fighters. They even simulated setting up road-blocks, stopping cars, and robbing the occupants amongst the side streets of Tetovo.
In, yet, another part of town, where the Macedonian population far exceeds that of Albanians, Macedonian police kept their armored cars at the ready. Occasionally, their machine-guns would be p!ointed at pedestrians, just to retain their edge over the population. They could be of Albanian extraction! If one were bold, or stupid enough, to stop and engage the opposing factions in light banter, it would not take long to learn the truth. This being, that every Albanian and every Macedonian, has a cache of armament at home. Nobody would dare trust anybody else, for fear of death resultant. But alas, we have peace!
With the defiant Albanian rebels entrenched on the hillsides, and government warplanes buzzing overhead, all the inertia that could easily lead NATO into its biggest and longest, subsequent war, in the former Yugoslavia, is firmly entrenched. As is common in the Balkans, instability spreads.
Reaction to the latest round of lunacy, which is unfolding in Macedonia, can now be seen in Serbia. Politically, Serbia’s future and current standing is not all that stable, this may come as a surprise to some. We generally assume that Serbia’s “!West leaning allegiance” which was recently bought and paid for, to the tune of 1.3 Billion Dollars, by the United States, will remain intact. This monetary consideration was showered on Serbia, just hours after Slobodan Milosevic was served up to the war crimes tribunal, like a ripe peach. Just this past weekend the “present” Serbian President, Vojislav Kostunica, played a proverbial game of chess with his party’s ministers. This constitutes a major governmental shake-up. His action could well result in a far less, “Western Friendly” political administration in Belgrade. This is particularly significant because a large amount of the support that the Albanian Rebels receive comes from the border area of Macedonia and Serbia.
As well, in this tranquil and peaceful land under the umbrella of a peace treaty, so we are told, more trouble cropped up. Suddenly, as if out of nowhere, crowds showed up at the border crossing between Kosovo and Macedonia. D!eclaring themselves the “Macedonian World Congress”, not a bad nick-name if I do say so, this gaggle blocked NATO vehicles from entering Macedonia. As a result of this grass roots hooligan action, I cannot lend great credence to the tactical stability of the NATO forces, who yielded to the group. And these are the “hard-chargers” who are going to disarm the Albanian Rebels? Yes, Peace is breaking out all over.
There is nothing more that the Albanian Rebels want than NATO to remain in Macedonia. My tacit prediction, in the long run, shall remain that Macedonia will become a NATO protectorate. This will ensure a healthy environment for the “so-called” Albanian Rebels to sustain, and enlarge, their military and political causes through autonomy and legitimization, via NATO’s protective sphere. One can rest assured that the Albanian Rebels will do their very best to keep NATO in Macedonia, even if it means killing a few, here and there.
So, now c!ome the British troops. Ready or not, NATO is coming to town. They have legitimized their forced entry into Macedonia by convincing quasi-national leaders to capitulate and sign agreements. NATO arrives in this cesspool of death, mistrust, retribution and bloody reprisal, which their overt and covert actions have caused. The Brits are an advance mission and charged with securing entry points and gauging the sincerity of the former warring factions. Somehow, by conducting liaison with the rebels and government agencies, they will be able to determine if it is safe to deploy the remainder of the NATO force. I hope they packed their crystal balls.
Peace in Macedonia is an admirable concept. I would opine that peace can be declared as status-quo, today! This, of course, as soon as all factions trust each other. Of course all crew served and assault weapons must be relinquished, all heavy armored vehicles are destroyed,.... right down to private family ownership of t!anks and armored personnel carriers. As well, I think that honest honorable citizens ought to lead the country; of the people, by the people, and for the people at the whim of their constituents. Until that level of peace is achieved, pack heavy, it is going to be a long rocky road. Peace is breaking out all over.
By J. David Galland
Mr. Galland is a veteran of The United States Army, with over thirty-two years military service. Since 1969, Mr. Galland has been in Military Intelligence and is a distinquished graduate of the U. S. Army Intelligence Center & School, Fort Holabird, Maryland. He is a combat veteran of Vietnam, Grenada, and Panama and of hazardous duty positions in Ulster, Northern Ireland, Zagreb, Sarajevo, in the Former Yugoslavia, as well as various missions in Croatia and Bosnia. http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/08/22/13069.html
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