NEW LIBERAL IMPERIALISM: MAKING THE WORLD SAFE FOR

[kubmac]

COLONIAL WARS
New liberal imperialism is making the world safe for terrorists
Neil Clark

The Spectator (UK) 13 April 2002


'What is needed is a new kind of imperialism, one compatible with human
rights and cosmopolitan values: an imperialism which aims to bring order and
organisation,' argues New Labour foreign-policy guru Robert Cooper in his
recent pamphlet Re-ordering the World: The Long-term Implications of
September 11th.

Cooper distinguishes between two kinds of 'new colonialism' that can 'save
the world': the 'voluntary' imperialism of institutions such as the IMF and
the World Bank, which 'provide help for states wishing to find their way
back on to the global economy', and the 'imperialism of neighbours', when
states intervene to sort out 'instability' in their neighbourhood.

Cooper uses the 'humanitarian' intervention in Kosovo and the subsequent
establishment there of a 'protectorate' as a shining example of how his 'new
colonialism' can bring 'order and organisation'. As Cooper is so keen to
talk of Kosovo, let us examine a little more closely the effect his
'imperialism of neighbours' has had on the province.

Six years ago, Kosovo was at relative peace. Albanian demands for greater
independence from Belgrade were channelled through the peaceful Democratic
League party of Ibrahim Rugova, while the small groups of Albanian
paramilitaries that did exist were disorganised, unco-ordinated and
isolated. As late as November 1997, the KLA, having been formed as the
'hardline' wing of a previous Albanian terror group, could, it has been
estimated, call on the services of only at the very most 200 men.

At this point, Robert Cooper's 'new colonialists' started to get involved.
Having at first declared the KLA to be a terrorist organisation, our new
colonialists, with the US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to the fore,
started to see in this motley array of fanatics, cut-throats and hoodlums a
perfect vehicle for their long-desired aim to topple the politically
incorrect regime in Belgrade that they and other 'humanitarian' liberals so
detested.

Instead of being treated as pariahs, the KLA were now to be given a
makeover. Gone were the 'terrorist' epithets; the KLA were now gallant
'freedom fighters', bravely defending their people from the brutal 'fascist'
regime in Belgrade. The fact that, during 1998, the KLA actually executed
more of their people than they did Serbs was not widely reported in the
media of Cooper's 'post-modern states'. CIA money was diverted, via Geneva,
to fund KLA operations, while BND, the German secret service, provided
uniforms, weaponry and instructors to knock the rag-bag KLA into shape.
Britain, now under the leadership of enthusiastic new colonialists, was keen
to play its part, too, diverting SAS units from their hunt for the Omagh
bombers to send them instead to the mountains of northern Albania to do
their bit in training the young bucks of the KLA to shoot Yugoslav postmen
and, indeed, anyone else wearing the uniform of the Yugoslav state.

In siding with the KLA, it mattered not a jot to our new colonialists that
they were joining forces with a group largely funded by trafficking in
illegal narcotics. Ironically, on the very day that KLA hardliner Hashim
Thaci (having discarded his Balaclava and combat fatigues for a designer
suit) was being warmly embraced by Mrs Albright for signing the Rambouillet
'peace' treaty, Europol was submitting a report for all European interior
ministers on the connection between Thaci's organisation and the Albanian
drug gangs that were supplying Western Europe with more than 75 per cent of
its heroin.

Not only were the KLA drug-traffickers, they were also linked
incontrovertibly to Osama bin Laden's al-Qa'eda organisation. When claims
that al-Qa'eda cells were active in Kosovo in the late 1990s were made by
the then Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, they were, predictably,
dismissed out of hand as Serb propaganda. But one doesn't have to take Slobo
's word for it when there is also available the testimony of J.T. Caruso,
the assistant-director of the FBI's counter-terrorism division.

In his statement to a Congressional committee on 18 December last year,
Caruso confirmed that al-Qa'eda had supported 'Islamic fighters' in Bosnia,
Afghanistan, Kosovo and Chechnya. 'Al-Qa'eda,' continued Caruso, 'has active
cells in 20 countries, including Pakistan, Egypt, Afghanistan, Kosovo,
Chechnya and the Philippines.' Furthermore, according to a Deutsche Press
report, financial support from Islamic countries to the KLA was channelled
through the former Albanian chief of national security, Bashkim Gazidede, a
man notorious for having 'strong links' to Islamic terror groups.

So there you have it. Just three years before the Manhattan bombings, Robert
Cooper's new colonialist forces were working alongside Afghan and Turkish
instructors in KLA camps, training mercenaries from Saudi Arabia and Kuwait
to wage holy war on the forces of another European state. One only hopes
that if these erstwhile colleagues do happen to meet up shortly in an Afghan
cave, they remember that they did once work together and at least exchange
greetings before firing at each other.

Not surprisingly, given the massive support that they received from all
quarters, the KLA were, in 1999, able to step up their campaign to remove
Yugoslav forces from Kosovo. When the inevitable security backlash came from
Belgrade, the redoubtable Mrs Albright was ready to hand out the ultimata,
and, after the Rambouillet 'stitch-up', the new colonialists got the war
against Slobo that they had long desired. After a 78-day, $7-billion bombing
campaign, their dream of a 'protectorate' over Kosovo was finally realised.
Three years on, what now of Kosovo?

The province, previously so diverse in its ethnic composition, has seen,
under the aegis of the 'international community', no fewer than 200,000
Serbs and Roma driven from their homes, with hundreds more murdered or gone
missing. So much for Robert Cooper's call for a new imperialism compatible
with human rights and cosmopolitan values. The KLA, now officially
disbanded, is once more being trained by the British, this time being
transformed into the caring, sharing Kosovo Protection Corps. Once again,
the new colonialists have provided the uniforms.

Meanwhile, the drug-running continues. The recent arrest of three ex-KLA
'freedom fighters' in Norway, after the discovery of the country's largest
ever heroin haul, shows that old habits die hard. It is estimated that
Kosovan/Albanian gangs now control 90 per cent of the Western trade in
heroin, 15 per cent up on when the international community took control of
the province.

However, it's not all doom and gloom. New jobs have been created in Kosovo;
not for the local inhabitants, but instead for worthy citizens of the
'post-modern' world. As Robert Cooper proudly states, 'The international
community provides not just soldiers but police, judges, prison officers,
bankers and others.' For 'others', Cooper is obviously referring to
semi-retired politicians and diplomats, such as Pascal Fieschi of France,
the new head of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe in
Kosovo, and our own Sir Paddy Ashdown, who has been widely touted as the new
high commissioner of the province. Sir Paddy, though, is reported to be
having second thoughts about taking on the job: perhaps he believes that
stemming the multi-billion-dollar drugs trade and coaxing the Serbs and Roma
back to the province so that Albanian snipers can take pot-shots at them is
beyond even his prodigious talents.

In short, Kosovo is in a mess. But it is a mess that is entirely the making
of the new colonialists. If Cooper and his disciples are to have their way,
we must prepare for many more Kosovos in the years ahead. This might